


Danganronpa W

by Voltage1202



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Abbie Wallace, Americans, Bailey Holst, Charles Kowalsky, Ellie Servendy, Emily Frye, English, Erica Gilman, Fan Dangan Ronpa, Fanganronpa, Gen, Hans Glass, Ian Granger, Joseph Elgon, Kayla van Mullen, Kristen Kaspartack, Lexi Stecksen, Logan Melvearl, Long, Maria Chevette, Nate Doorhurst, OCs - Freeform, Original Character(s), Peter Coltdev, Plot Twists, et cetera - Freeform, oh lord what other tags do I need, read it for the plot, word heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:49:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 57,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voltage1202/pseuds/Voltage1202
Summary: Sixteen "ultimate" students find themselves in a perilous predicament as they must participate in a semester of mutual killing in hopes of graduating with a degree in Murderous Studies, held on the, completely indoors, campus of the University of Monosota. A strange monochrome bear seems to be running everything, but something isn't quite right. Will our heroes solve the mystery of their situation? Or will the deaths of their compatriots drive them to despair?As the reader, be on the lookout for meta things, and watch for subversions of standard conventions! Alternate Universe too I guess, because I need to specify that for some reason.Featuring:- An original and American cast- A crazy Bear named monobear- Lots of Beautiful architecture- Plenty of Interesting plot twists- Strange and Eccentric personalities





	1. Prologue: Beginnings Are Always the Most Strange - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things before we get this depressing story on the road. This story will be written as if it were a a novel rather then script for the game itself. As such, most of the text will follow some very simple conventions:
> 
> \- The story will be presented as if it were a novel, rather than a script.  
> \- The protagonist’s thoughts will be made italicized rather than using standard typing conventions.  
> \- Class Trials will be written in script format.  
> \- For aesthetic pleasure, assume most of the soundtrack to play from Danganronpa V3
> 
> Additionally, it should be made clear that there will be some reader influence on events that happen in the story such as free time events and other small things. You all will be alerted in a postscript when these things are going to happen. Of course, if there’s minimal feedback on things then I’ll go about how I planned writing things, but if people want changes, I’ll see what I can do.
> 
> Furthermore, there are not going to be explicit V3 spoilers in this story, but there WILL be subtle references to the entire series as a whole. They will be unmarked, and very subtle. You have been warned.
> 
> Lastly, I enjoy inserting some fun things into my writing and while I don't want to give you a scavenger hunt list, be on the lookout for various jojokes, memes and other trash.
> 
> And now, strap in. You’re about to begin a wild journey into the unknown

**PROLOGUE: Beginnings Are Always the Most Strange**

* * *

 

"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides."  
 - Lao Tzu

 

* * *

 

 

The rain was coming down on campus harder than usual. The grey puffy clouds that circled overhead seemed to be dropping every single molecule of water they had in them, and every so often a bright bolt of electricity would pierce the grey. Those that were carrying umbrellas were relatively dry, but the same couldn’t be said for those who forgot them at home. No one wanted to be out in this weather, not even a storm fetishist.

A tall graying-haired man in a lab coat paced around the room whilst watching the storm outside. He was a taller figure and seemed to have lost some of his wits in the rain earlier in the day. But no matter, he wasn’t the type to let a bit of measly sky water ruin his day. No, he was to begin his project today, and he’d do it rain, or shine. He spent far too much money and resources on this project to leave it now.

The man approached the lab’s waiting room and as he threw open the large silver doors to the patient room, he turned and saw the student sitting on the lab table. While he did notice that the student was very curious about the set of doors on the other end of the room, he didn’t really take notice of the fact that the student’s heart rate monitor was beating a little faster than the average relaxed human, nor did he really care about the student’s appearance. He couldn’t really even be bothered to tell if this final student he had to talk with was a boy or a girl. In a rather rushed and dismissive tone, the man introduced himself.

“So then, you’re one of the people signed up for the survey, right? It’s nice to meet you.”

The student was obviously a little thrown off at the rather standoffish tone that the strange man used, or so it seemed to the man. He didn’t care, he wanted to start things as soon as possible.

“Now then, this is the final… uh, whatever you call it, thing right before we launch into your participation. I’m just here to review that you’ve signed the waiver and go over any other minor details about things. If you’ve got any questions before we begin, now’s the time to ask them. And if you’re planning on backing out on me… well, I really hope you’re not planning on doing that.”

The student looked at the man in the lab coat, scratched their cheek in a slightly worried fashion and then responded.

“You’re Dr. Hemisona… right?”

“What about it?”

“Oh, nothing, I was just making sure I was in the right spot. This rain’s been messing me up, y’know?”

“Yes, yes… I’m sure.”

Dr. Hemisona turned away from the student and faced the computer screen on his desk. Fiddling with the mouse, he loaded up the screen. In bright orange lettering, the screen read “Machaon Project” and there was a picture of a small monarch butterfly fluttering about. He always fancied that screensaver and he was always a little remorseful every time he had to log into the databases which were so painfully plain. After clicking away at his keyboard, Dr. Hemisona pulled up the file for the student he was observing. He turned back around to see the student chewing on one of their nails only to abruptly stop. He shook his head, hovered his hand over his eye for a moment, and again approached the student.

“Seems like everything’s in check, which is good… and I assume you’re ready to begin today?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m all set.”

“Fantastic. So you know, not that anything will go wrong, but in the event that some does go wrong, legally I’m supposed to compensate you and maybe your family, relatives etc. You know what I mean?”

“... Will something go wrong?”

“No, it’s worked twenty times before. I know it’s a fallacy to think that just because it’s worked twenty times before that it’ll work again, but there’s literally no reason things should go awry.”

“Well, I guess I have to take your word then, huh?”

“That’s right. But you did sign a waiver too, so you did consent to this. Consider this one final check to make sure you’re ready for what you’re about to do.”

The student paused. Dr. Hemisona watched intently as the student visibly thought about their life choices and the actions that led them to this moment. They opened their mouth as if they were about to speak, only to create silence. But Dr. Hemisona had to wait. He couldn’t just rush this person into this experiment, they had to do it on their own. The student then spoke.

“Ok. I’m ready… er wait, I do have one question about the whole thing in the agreement about a backu-”

But before the student could finish the question, Dr. Hemisona gleefully grabbed the student by the hand, and rushed them to the second set of doors in the room. Dr. Hemisona then sat the last student in the sole open seat and then began his final announcement to the sixteen students in the room.

“Hello everyone, and thank you for showing up for this test. I’m Dr. Hemisona and I’m the head of the Machaon Project. Thank you all so much for signing up. You’re all about to begin this test, but before we begin, we’re going to have to put you all under. This is so that we can effectively get a zero-state for all of you.” As Dr. Hemisona spoke, he reached up onto the wall and grabbed a gasmask. “Now, because of budget cuts, instead of going to the local hospital, you all will be knocked out right here. I hope you weren’t expecting anything else.”

He put the gas mask on and the flipped a switch. The sixteen students who had been sitting in the chairs were now visibly frightened, with some shouting curses at the doctor, while others were experiencing a freezing effect. But in time the final student slowly nodded off, which was the cue for Dr. Hemisona to turn on the ventilation system. It was about to start, his final examination, and there was nothing that would go wrong.

“Because, you know, the hot-hand fallacy isn’t really a thing.”

The doctor chuckled to himself as his assistants lifted the sixteen students onto stretchers. Yes, he thought, there was absolutely no way things could go wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? A non-standard Danganronpa opening? Well readers, stay tuned, because I can promise you that the wonderful despair-filled mutual killing will begin promptly. You won't have to worry about that mad musings of a crazy doctor or anything like that. I concede that this opener is a short, but I can guarantee that the next few entries are FAR longer.
> 
> If there are any predictions of questions or anything, feel free to comment! I love hearing theories and predictions~


	2. Prologue: Beginnings Are Always the Most Strange - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who needs a Doctor when you can instead have sixteen fun students?
> 
> Just as a reminder, when there are italics it means that our protagonist is thinking to themselves. Or that it's a snarky remark. Whichever you prefer.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.”– Oscar Wilde

 

* * *

 

The sun shined through a clear glass pane, creating a wonderful sunbeam on a cool white marble floor. The warmth of the beam shone down on a girl who lay motionless on the floor. As the light further crept along, the girl slowly rose and rubbed her head. The girl felt the smooth flooring and tried to orient herself, but she wasn’t sure where she was. She had been sprawled on the cool white marble floor, but putting her palms on the ground and pushing herself up, she slowly observed her surroundings.

“I’m… uh, oh man… where the heck am I?” She rubbed her arm as she raised herself to a standing position. _I remember myself. I know who I am. My name is Abbie Wallace… I… what am I doing here? Abbie, c’mon, get a grip._ Abbie wobbled with a feeling of lightheadedness that could only be felt when one stands up too quickly. Not that she could regain any of her memories by simply standing up, but she stopped and tried to remember what exactly had led her to being passed out in the middle of a fancy hallway.

 _Was I kidnapped? Er… no, that can’t be it. Did I… come here willingly? I can’t… I can’t remember anything… Why the hell… ugh, that’s a little too convenient._ She couldn’t remember. It was pretty simple.

_Well.. no use trying to protest, I guess? Maybe I’ll just have a look around… There has to be clue around here somewhere._

The corridor was a stark white color, though there were small speckles of black littering the floors and walls. There were windows that oversaw a large lake on Abbie’s left, and some doors on her right. Abbie was about to go and reach for the closest doorknob when she noticed something in her peripheral vision near her feet. Abbie looked down to find a small envelope at her feet. She grabbed the smooth paper and opened it to find a single card. 

 _What’s this?_  

The card read, in simple black text,

 **Abbie Wallace**  

 **Ultimate Botanist**  

**Dark Purple**

Meet your fellow students in the Auditorium. 

Wait for the announcement.

 

Abbie wasn’t sure what the card meant by “Ultimate Botanist”, but she did understand the part about her name and meeting students in the Auditorium. _I guess that makes sense…_ Abbie thought to herself. She reached for her wrist to find two white hair ties with which she put her shoulder-length dark purple hair into twintails. Her purple-y hair complimented her sun-kissed skin and hazel eyes nicely, perhaps making her appear more alert than she might have been in other circumstances. She was a girl of average height and while her arms and legs were by no means muscular, her lean shape was very effective for athletic events and running. She wore a plain, violet, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up shirt that exposed her shoulders, collarbones and the black and gold straps of a sports bra. Below her shirt, she wore a pair of black athletic shorts, though they were clearly stained with bits of dirt. Along with her legwear, both her knees and her right cheek seemed to have a constant smear of dirt on them which was fitting for the Ultimate Botanist. But other than the various hair ties and vine bracelets she wore on her wrists, Abbie was a fairly average looking student.

 _So we have this note here… I’m the Ultimate Botanist? What qualifications did I get to deserve that?_ Abbie thought hard about why she might’ve gotten this role. Sure, her passion for plants and studying their genetics was evident from the various work she had done in her daily life, and sure, maybe she had been recognized for discovering a new species of ivy plant, but was that really deserving of the title “Ultimate Botanist”? _And I’m supposed to go to the auditorium… where is that again?_ As she thought those words, Abbie realized she had absolutely no idea where she could be as the marble hallways were completely unfamiliar to her. And as she slowly started to begin to panic about not knowing where she was, she also realized that she had no idea how she got there.

Abbie was about to run down the hall and call for help when she heard a voice call out to her.

“Hey you, purple girl!”

The voice was a bit nasally and high-pitched. Abbie turned to see the owner of the sound, only to find a girl standing where the hallway seemed to turn.

“Well, are you just gonna stand there?”

Disoriented, Abbie turned to the girl and began walking towards her. “Oh, sorry… uh do you know where we are?”

“The fuck if I know, I’ve been trying to find the stupid auditorium, but I can’t remember shit.”

The vulgar words came from a shorter girl with long chocolate colored hair, red eyes a dolled up face with crimson lipstick. If Abbie thought she was tanned, this girl had her beat, as her hair was only slightly darker than her skin tone. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a crimson blouse low enough to see bits of lace and tied in such a way that exposed her toned midriff. She also wore a red striped plaid skirt a pair of crimson converse. _Those converse, they really don’t fit with the rest of her punky schoolgirl aesthetic._  

“So Purple, whatcha lookin’ at?” 

“Sorry, I was just… I’m just a little, uh-” 

The girl cut her off.

“I’d normally say that you’re wasting my time, but we’ve got nowhere to be. You were probably checking out my smoking good looks, hah.”

 _Why is she laughing to herself…? Ugh never mind._ Abbie wasn’t sure how to respond to someone so blunt, though she got the feeling that this girl was aware of how self-centered she seemed to be. But seeing as this girl was the only other person around, she figured she should probably introduce herself.

“I was just noticing your shoes” Abbie replied with a smile, “they’re very red.”

“Yeah, crimson. That’s my favorite color. Plus, they’re super comfy and everything.” The girl grinned while she spoke and it confused Abbie. _Did she forget the fact that she just rudely cut me off?_ The girl spoke as if she weren’t concerned with any trifling matters, and had an air of confidence of about her. Abbie was almost about to admit to herself that she was lost with this conversation when she realized something critical. 

“I never actually got your name, I’m Abbie.”

The spunky girl seemed to acknowledge her with a sincere nod, which caught Abbie off guard. “I’m **Alexandra Stecksen** , it’s nice to meet you ‘n’ shit.”

 _Alexandra? Jeez this girl’s dripping with concentrated levels of DILLIGAF valley girl_.

“Oh, but Alexandra’s a fucking mouthful, call me Lexi. Please.” 

Abbie took note of the blunt yet somehow earnest nature of this girl’s tone, and noted that she hadn’t actually met anyone quite like this in her day to day life. _I guess this is just what happens when you find some random girl in a random building_. Awkwardly adjusting her hair ties on her wrist, she continued the conversation.

“You wouldn’t happen to have an Ultimate Talent would you?” Abbie asked in an earnest manner. “I’m the Ultimate Botanist.” 

“Haha yeah, as if I couldn’t tell by that leafy bracelet you’ve got there. It was either that or the Ultimate Stoner since your eyes are so puffy.”

_They’re puffy? Did I rub them too much?_

“But whatever, I’m, uh, the **Ultimate Dancer**. I’m pretty good at what I do.” 

 

**Alexandra 'Lexi' Stecksen**

**Ultimate Dancer**

**Crimson**

 

The girls spoke for a bit about their past accomplishments. Lexi was a nationally accredited dancer who had won countless competitions performing seemingly unmemorizable  routines. She loved to perform jazzier tunes, but wasn’t a stranger to ballet, classical and hip-hop dance either. Abbie found herself to be quite impressed by everything Lexi had to offer. To Abbie’s surprise, Lexi was impressed with Abbie’s talent as well, and the two strode down the hallways in search of the auditorium.

“I wonder if there are more of us here…” Abbie wondered aloud. “I mean, don’t you think it would be a little weird to just have two girls in a weird marble building?”

“And here I thought you were supposed to be smart. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be more people waiting in the auditorium when we get there.” 

No sooner did Lexi say those words did the two girls enter a wide open clearing. Ceilings rose high to reveal a giant domed window that let in the natural lighting. On the floor showed a compass rose with each of the directions pointing off to a different hallway. Abbie was too enthralled with the design on the floor to notice the giant black tiger statues in front of the various doors that lined the curved wall opposite them.

“You think that’s where we’re supposed to be?” asked Lexi in a tone that made Abbie unsure of whether Lexi was being sarcastic or not. “I mean, it’s got fuckin’ statues, so it’s gotta be important.”

“I think you’re right, and the note that I got did say to meet the remaining students here, so I guess this is where we’re supposed to meet everyone?” Abbie hesitated, but then added “Maybe we should go inside and check it out?” 

“Sounds like good to me” 

And with no time wasted, the two girls opened the large wooden doors and entered the marvelously large space. The interior proved to be quite large and spacious, though not particularly well lit. The first thing Abbie noticed was that the room felt really old compared to the exterior. The whole room seemed to have a darker teal hue hue to it compared to the glowing white exterior, which Abbie found a bit relaxing, if not a little strange. There were spotlights that seemed to be clinging to the rafters, appearing as if they’d likely come tumbling down at even the slightest gale, along with a generally old-looking sound system. The seats were nicer, made from a blue, seemingly rough kind of fabric, with wooden armrests between each seat. Abbie wasn’t sure how many rows there were, she couldn’t be bothered to count all of them, but she observed that there was plenty of space for only two people. 

Except then she looked at the stage and realized that there weren’t only two people in the room. On the stage stood a tall, lanky boy who had flat jet-black hair facing the away from them. He seemed to be wearing a red flannel shirt underneath a puffy forest green overcoat, along with khaki slacks and brown penny loafers. _This guy… he means business_. Abbie turned to Lexi who seemed to be enthralled by the tall boy. Abbie shook her head and called out the boy who quickly turned his head upon hearing the new voice. 

“So there are more people here. That’s good!” 

His voice was higher than Abbie expected, and a bit snooty sounding too. His voice didn’t carry very well, so Abbie had to approach the stage before she could continue their conversation. As Abbie approached the stage, she realized that even with the stage’s initial height, the boy was very tall. His slender build was very apparent and looking up to meet the boy, Abbie felt a bit intimidated. 

“The name’s **Charles Kowalski** ” the tall boy said. “You guys got talents too?”

 

Abbie was about to speak when Lexi piped up.

“Yeah, I’m Lexi Stecksen, Ultimate Dancer. And the girl with me is Abbie Wallace, Ultimate Botanist”

“Yeah”, Abbie added, “what she said.” _I wish she would’ve let me introduce myself… but I don’t want to make waves this early, do I?_ “What’s your talent Charles?”

Charles seemed to visibly process the information he had just learned about the two girls standing before him before opening his mouth. Scratching his jaw, he began to speak.

“I guess you can call me the **Ultimate Counterfeiter**. I make fake stuff. You need a fake ID? I’ve got you covered. You need some random forgery of a signature? I can do it. Hell, I even faked multiple government documents just to get some dude into a space program. But I don’t make fake money, that’s a bit too risky even for someone of my caliber. But I’m sure you two girls probably wouldn’t even need to worry about cash, now would you?”

 

**Charles Kowalski**

**Ultimate Counterfeiter**

**Red**

 

_...What’s that supposed to mean?_

“But yeah, I think the only reason I got this nomination is because I faked an official document to the board of education stating that I was the winner. I don’t think they really ever found out or something, y’know?”

“That’s really impressive, I don’t think me or Lexi could’ve had the guts to pull off something so ballsy as that.”

“Yeah, you know, it’s just what talent is. When it’s recognized you get lots of recognition for it. I like to think I’m pretty well known, you know?”

Abbie wasn’t really sure what to make of this guy. It’s clear that he was pretty smug and confident in his own skills, but something felt off. Maybe it was the stage height, but there was something about Charles’ demeanor that made him seem almost superior to Abbie. _It’s probably just the stage_.

“Hey so, how the hell did you end up getting up there?” Abbie turned to face Lexi who was looking every which way for a set of stairs up to the proscenium. 

“Oh, yeah, you just go through one of those arches on either side, and the stairs are right there. Did you miss them while coming in?” 

“Yeah”, Lexi said while giggling flirtatiously “we were so amazed at how something that seemed so small was actually really big!”

 _Did she just? She did. Didn’t she. How did I get myself stuck in place with a lewd dancer and a condescending faker?_  

The two girls made their way past the scratchy seats, climbed the creaky wooden stairs and joined Charles on the stage. The black floor wood was a strange contrast to the floor outside, and Abbie was able to see slight dusty footprints from where Charles had walked before. From his foot size to his actual height, Abbie was struck at how tall the boy was now that they were on the same level. He wasn’t freakishly tall as he had first appeared, but he was a full head and shoulders taller than her, and Lexi seemed to only come up to his chest. 

“You guys didn’t happen to try to open any doors on your way here, did you?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but upon probing her memories, Abbie realized that neither she nor Lexi had even bothered trying to open of the other doors that were in the hallway. 

“No,” responded the dancer, “none of them really screamed ‘Auditorium’ so we left them. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I tried a few doors along the way but they’re all locked up. I think we’re locked up here. But you know, I think it’s to make sure everyone ends up in the auditorium”

 _Locked. Locked in the building?_ What did it mean? Did that mean that the whole group was trapped? The three students shuffled around uncomfortably since there wasn’t much to discuss. It was suggested that the three didn’t leave the auditorium since more people would be coming to them. Lexi suggested that they might as well stay put and wait for everyone else, to which Abbie and Charles both agreed. 

“Say, Charles, do you remember anything about losing your mem-” 

Abbie was immediately interrupted he wooden doors flew open and two boys walked into the auditorium. The light shining in from behind them made it initially difficult for Abbie to make out their features, but she could definitely make out their general shapes. The boy on her left was a shorter guy who appears to be pretty muscular, but not as muscular as the monstrously large character on the right. As they walked in a little further and the doors closed behind them Abbie was able to get a few more details about the boys. 

The shorter boy had vivid green eyes, a tuft of short hair on his head with shaved sides, and a bit of stubble around his jawline. He was wearing some kind of orange snapdown suit thing and white skin tight pants that made his whole get up look as if he were in some sort of marching band. Of course Abbie just assumed this since she hadn’t bothered with any musical ventures up until that point, but regardless, the shorter boy looked to be very in uniform and aware of his surroundings. Abbie also noticed that unlike the large boy, the shorter boy tended to walk in a strange way, perhaps as if he were walking in time with some sort of beat.

 _I’m willing to bet my entire life that that kid’s talent has something to do with marching band_.

The taller boy was very different. Charles was tall, sure, but he was very lanky. This boy, or maybe even man, Abbie wasn’t sure, stood towering above the record height set by the counterfeiter. He was bulky and muscular with very broad shoulders and a mess of curly brown hair tied up into a top-knot. His thinly-rimmed glasses that covered his dark green eyes seemed slightly out of place on the rest of his body given his stature, though they did compliment his fashion sense. He wore some sort of lavender colored dress shirt with a clean white tie centered essentially perfectly down his shirt. He also wore a pair of sleek black jeans, though Abbie saw that they weren’t really made of typical denim, and they seemed to far stretchier. There was one part of the boy Abbie didn’t quite understand, the large boy seemed to have beams coming out of his collarbones at a strange angle, but as he approached the stage Abbie suddenly realized her mistake. 

_Those… they’re freaking broadswords! How the hell did he get those?!_

The two boys approached the stage.

“Hey hey! How’d you three fine individuals get up to that cool lookin’ stage?” the shorter one asked. 

“Well, you’d go through those arches over there and then take the stairs, but I’ll come to you since it’s easier!” Immediately after speaking, Abbie leaped down from the stage to meet the two boys. She was half expecting Lexi and Charles to follow suit, but when she turned, she found that the two of them were already having a different conversation. Abbie returned to the two new boys and began her spiel.

“Hi, I’m Abbie, Abbie Wallace and I’m what people know as the Ultimate Botanist. UP on the stage are Charles and Lexi-” 

“Lemme guess” the larger one interrupted, “Lexi’s totally the tall dude, isn’t she? Er he… dammit. Sorry...”

“Uhhh yeah, Lexi’s the shorter girl and Charles is the tall guy...” Abbie let out a bit of a nervous giggle. She wasn’t sure how to respond to the giant’s goof up, but she figured there was only one way forward. “Anyways I think they can introduce their own talents to you, but it’s good to have two more faces here!”

The shorter boy quickly spoke first. “Well it’s great to meet you too Abbie, and allow me to introduce myself. My name is **Bailey Holst** , yes THE Holst. The great great grandson of the Planets guy. I know, I know, amazing right? Well I’m not really big on the whole classical music scene. Based on my wonderfully plain envelope I’m the **Ultimate Band Geek**. Not a huge fan of the whole ‘Band Geek’ part, but what can I say? It’s really fitting.”

 

**Bailey Holst**

**Ultimate Band Geek**

**Orange**

 

_Score one for my life._

“So what makes you the Ultimate Band Geek?”

“Well now it’s a bit difficult to pinpoint the exact moment I’d say… but I can definitely tell you that I’ve led my school’s marching band national victories as Drum Major. That and I’m pretty well versed in various musical instruments like the trumpet, trombone, and my personal favorite, the mellophone.”

 _Well is this guy isn’t just a wall of words_. Abbie was a bit overwhelmed, but she continued to listen to Bailey’s animated description of his talent. After he finished describing the time half of his band slipped on turf and he somehow still led their group to a win, Abbie proceeded to turn to face the taller boy.

“I’m **Ian Granger**. I like thw-, uh, swords.”

 _Is that it?_ The taller boy clearly was still a little shaken up from his earlier mishap. It seemed to Abbie that maybe he wasn’t the Ultimate First Impressions Giver.

“You’re a big guy and you like swords?”

“Yeah, they’re fun and easy to use. Plus you know, I think I’m a pretty big guy so combat kind of comes easily to me. I guess that would explain why I’m the **Ultimate Swordsman** And yes, I’m a big guy… for you.”

 

**Ian Granger**

**Ultimate Swordsman**

**Purple**

 

 _Is he trying to hide a lisp? And... did he just... What is it with everyone dropping stupid hints and innuendos? We’ve just met each other, not everyone’s going to get these stupid memes!_ Of course Abbie made sure to not give away her expression at the bewilderment of Ian’s joke. She wanted to laugh harder than she actually did, but still, his introduction was lackluster, to say the least. Upon prodding him further, Abbie learned that Ian was, _surprise surprise_ , nationally known for his swordfighting and had actually saved his entire family with a rapier when they were getting mugged. He also claimed that he had ties to the Japanese Yakuza and that he had trained with a particularly skilled swordswoman in Japan.

“And you’re telling me that you don’t like to really talk about things much?”

“Well, you see” Ian began… only to pause. As he was thinking, his left hand slowly crept up to the left handle. “I guess I don’t see the point in conversation if it’s not for either learning information or maybe trying to communicate. That and I don’t really see the point in talking about myself.”

“And uh, I-Ian, buddy, whatcha doing with that hand there?” Bailey questioned with a nervous laugh. 

“Oh! Excuse me… it’s a force of habit. You know, occasionally I just get a little anxious so I grab for the tha-, er, safety of my swordsth… though that’s not good that it’s becoming natural…”

“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah… that’s not exactly the greatest thing to rely on” Abbie said with a nervous giggle. As she looked around, she wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the conversation now that all three of them had introduced themselves. Abbie decided the best course of action was to simply point the two boys, Bailey and Ian, towards the stage stairs. Seeing as no one was coming in through the wooden doors either, Abbie followed closely behind until all five students found themselves on the stage. After various introductions and small talk about general confusion, the five soon had very little to discuss. And so they waited for the eventually gathering of more students.

The five stood in silence and for a while it seemed like no one else was going to come, but the moment Abbie was about to speak up, a loud crash was heard from outside of the auditorium. The group quickly looked at each other, and throwing caution to the wind, the five students dashed out through the wooden doors to see the commotion. In the middle of the atrium, one of the once magnificent tiger statues had tipped over and broken into lots of tiny pieces. But that wasn’t the only interesting thing waiting for the five students, as there were two other students standing around. One was an average looking girl standing a little too close to the remains of the tiger head, while the other was a boy staring wide eyed at the pieces of the statue. 

“Is everything alright out here?” Charles asked in an authoritative manner. “No one’s hurt are they?”

“Oh no, don’t worry about me, I’m fine!” replied the girl. Abbie saw how the girl seemed to be almost dancing about the pieces of the rubble and saw how “happy-go-lucky she seemed to be about the whole situation.

“Y-you’re sure you’re a-alright?” stammered the boy. “I didn’t hurt you at all did I?” 

“No, hehe, you’re good! Man though, talk about a lucky break! I guess the note wasn’t kidding when they said I was the **Ultimate Lucky Student**.”

Abbie took a good look at this girl, the Ultimate Lucky Student. She was wearing her hair auburn hair in a long braid that reached down near the middle of her back. Abbie noticed that this girl’s pink eyes seemed to go a little too well with the rest of her aesthetic as she was sporting a strange pink zipdown hoodie with with white bits lining the important edges like at her cuffs, and hood. The hoodie’s strings seemed ordinary, but where ordinary hoodies might have wax tips, this hoodie had two very large white balls of fluff. The hoodie was unzipped in such a way that Abbie could see this girl’s white shirt underneath that seemed to have some sort of character on it… _It looks vaguely Japanese… could that be the Japanese symbol for luck?_ Continuing down the girl’s body, she wore a short, pale pink skirt that left a small gap of leg before meeting a pair of thigh high white socks with three pink stripes near the top of them. To cap off the whole pink outfit, the girl wore a pair of pink galoshes. 

 _What an outfit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone who looked so… uh, presentable in those types of mismatched clothes. It’s probably just the puffballs._  

Abbie the turned her attention to the quivering boy who was quickly rushing to make sure the Lucky Student was alright. His navy blue eyes were quickly moving about scanning the floor for any further damage, while his curly hair was all over the place. It reminded Abbie a bit of a bird’s nest, though maybe not as frizzy. He was wearing a navy blue and black striped sweater with a white dress shirt underneath, exposing the collar which housed a navy blue tie. Aside from his plain top, he simply wore khaki slacks and a pair of modest shoes. Abbie noticed that compared to the Lucky Student, this boy was very plain looking. Nothing really stood out about him. _What could his Ultimate Talent be?_  

After assessing the situation a bit more carefully, the two students introduced themselves.

“S-s-sorry for causing such a commotion… I wasn’t really uh… well I wasn’t really paying attention where I p-put my hand and the statue looked l-like it… it came down on her… And sorry for delaying my introduction… my name’s **Hans Glass** … but uh, my card just reads **Ultimate** ”

 

**Hans Glass**

**Ultimate ???**

**Navy Blue**

 

“Really?” asked Charles, “do you mind if we see it for ourselves?”

“Oh!” Hans appeared shocked upon Charles’ sudden question.

 _Is there something about his card?_  

“I can’t let you see it… m-my card says on the back to not show anyone else… sorry…” Hans looked rather nervous but also slightly disappointed. Clearly there was something not question right here, Abbie felt, but she couldn’t place it. 

“Yeah well, at least it’s not like you’re lying to us, right? Cuz, like if you did, then that would make like zero fucking sense”, chimed in Lexi. 

“I dunno what to tell you guys… sorry...” 

“Well either way” started Abbie, “what’s your name, Miss Ultimate Crisis Avoider?”

“Mine?” responded the Girl in Pink, “I’m **Ellie Servendy** , and it’s nice to meet you! And don’t forget, it’s Ultimate Lucky Student!”

 

**Ellie Servendy**

**Ultimate Lucky Student**

**Pink**

 

“At least you’ve got a title…” moaned Hans’ quiet voice. No one really acknowledged his little comment either since from the Northeastern corridor the group heard sounds of footsteps rushing at them at a very high pace. The seven students quickly turned to find a group of four more students rushing their way.

 _What the hell? There are so many of them! How the heck am I supposed to remember the names and faces of literally every single person here?_  

Abbie caught a glimpse of the fourth students in the pack, but was quickly run into by a girl with flowing blonde hair.

“Hi, oh uh sorry! Hey is everything ok here we heard a loud CRACK and we wanted to make sure that it wasn’t some sort of earthquake or anything you know what I mean?” 

The girl spoke at a rapidfire pace almost to the point where Abbie could barely make out a single word the girl said. Abbie turned her head to Lexi, but Lexi just shrugged. Clearly there was nothing that could be said into the vocal sonic boom that had just blown through. The girl with the long blonde hair immediately ran up to Hans began what seemed like an interrogation.

“Do you know what happened here guy? Was there some sort of accident? Maybe someone was trying to sabotage something? Does someone have a thing against tigers? I mean I do but I have an alibi and those three can prove it I mean I was with them the whole time and we only just now came up to this place and found this, uh, whatever it is on the floor!” 

 _Whoa._  

“Maria, slow down a little” said a boy wearing a little too much camouflage, “we don’t even know these people… aaaaaand by the looks of it, there’s a lot of people we haven’t met yet.”

“Well jeez Nate, then why don’t you come and introduce yourself then!” 

Bailey and Charles turned toward the boy whom the blonde girl, Maria, had called Nate. _Let’s see how Mr. Ultimate Self-Appointed Boss Man handles this new pack of jokers_. Abbie watched as Charles reached into his back pocket, and whipped out his notecard that said his name, talent and where to meet. Without hesitating, and as if he had rehearsed this speech, he asked in a rather forceful tone,

“Everyone here’s got a card with their name and their Ultimate Talent. You all want to share yours?”

The peppy blonde girl spoke first. Abbie had to admire her lack of fear when it came to introducing herself. “My name’s **Maria Chevette** and I’m apparently known as the **Ultimate Horse Whisperer** , but don’t ask me why it’s got that title."

 

**Maria Chevette**

**Ultimate Horse Wisperer**

**Yellow**

 

"I’m more known for riding and training foals from a young age and turning them into race horses and stuff. Also I’m a model and I shoot with my horses, but that’s irrelevant, but it’s also fun!” Maria sported a yellow baseball cap that seemed to have an emblem of some sort of mustang. The yellow seemed to fit her sunny personality well and it contrasted her deep blue eyes really nicely, Abbie noted. Abbie had to take a moment when studying Maria’s midsection because it didn’t occur to her at first, but Maria was stacked. She was wearing a beige tee-shirt that had been tied off in such a way that not only emphasized her comically large breasts, but also her rather impressive midriff. _Maybe it was because she was running that I didn’t notice?_ Moving lower, Maria sported dark green khaki work pants that seems to have a bit of, what Abbie hoped to be, mud and dark brown boots.

“Ok neat” Charles responded, “though I don’t know if we needed your entire life story. Still though, it’s pretty cool you work with horses. I bet you enjoy riding them, huh?”

_Do I let that one slide? Or do I wait and see if Maria will catch the euphemism?_

“I mean, I don’t really ride them, that’s more the people who pay me to train their horses, but you know this one time I was little and I climbed right on and I literally rode across five different counties within three hours!”

 _Aaaaaaaaaaand it went right over her head. Also, is that horse fact supposed to be impressive?_ Abbie once against turned to her left to make a glance at Lexi, but rather than pay attention to Maria’s spiel, Lexi was too busy adjusting her skirt. However, Abbie did catch Ian’s glances towards her and upon eye contact Ian made a shrugging motion and a strange face. _Did he sort of feel the same way about things?_  

“Alright, cool. Nate, right? You’re next”

No one bothered challenging Charles’ authority in this case since it was clear that he was alpha of the pack. Abbie couldn’t help but be a little put off by his whole “strictly business” attitude, but this was basically still only her first impression. She’d have plenty of time to get to know the guy later.

“Hi everyone, I’m **Nate Doorhurst** , and I’m the **Ultimate Marksman** according to my slip. I know that’s kind of a weird way of putting things, but to put it simply, I’m really good at shooting things.”

 

**Nate Doorhurst**

**Ultimate Marksman**

**Forest Green**

 

“So guns?” asked Bailey

“Yep.”

“How about a bow and arrows?” asked Ellie 

“Those too. Though you see this scar?” Nate lowered his brown scarf and motioned to a loud cut on the side of his face, “that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention. It’s why I prefer guns to arrows.”

“If you had the machine for it, could you shoot a sword?” asked the sword enthusiast Ian.

“I mean, I guess? I never really thought about that to be honest. I just like to go hunting and stuff. It’s nice and relaxing and I never miss my mark. It’s pretty straightforward if you ask me.”

That last remark about hunting suddenly tied everything together for Abbie. Between his tattered and torn forest green pullover hoodie, patchy dark brown work pants, brown scarf, and black marks on his face it was as if Nate had come directly from the forest. While the it was clear that his long sandy blonde hair was full of bits of twigs and branches, behind the boy’s glasses there was a glimmer in his obsidian eyes said to Abbie that this kid was more than what he let on. She couldn’t place why she felt this way, but Abbie wanted to know about this camouflaged boy.

There were two others behind Nate and Maria who had been pretty quiet up until now, but they were about to face Charles’ pseudo-interrogations. Charles called on the taller boy next. It was clear to everyone that this student was of African descent and while the difference was apparently physically, it didn’t bother Abbie at all, nor any of the other students based on their reactions. His dark curly hair seemed to pop out from underneath his white knit cap, and his bright blue eyes made him appear as if he were some kind of mystical being. Or maybe the bright blue eyes were a result from his goggles? Abbie couldn’t tell. Between the boy’s goggles, darker brown jacket, duffel backpack and snowpants, Abbie had to assume that this boy was some sort of snow explorer. 

“Uh, hello everyone, my name is **Joseph Elgon** , and uh, my talent is what is known as the **Ultimate Mountaineer**. I’ve climbed a lot of mountains and I summited Mt. Kilimanjaro solo when I was ten years old. Any questions?”

 

**Jospeh Elgon**

**Ultimate Mountaineer**

**Brown**

 

Had anyone else ended their statement with “any questions”, Abbie would’ve been rubbed the wrong way, but there was some sort of earnest tone in Joseph’s voice that made his question seem more like a way for everyone to get to know him better. Abbie had questions, but given that Charles was very determined to get everyone knowing everyone, she figured she’d go and talk with him a bit later.

The last person in the group of four was a very petite girl who had a scowl across her face. “Don’t even bother telling me what to do man, I‘ve got this.” her voice was cold and raspy too, which scared Abbie a little. Between the girl’s half bleached blonde hair with visible roots, and her dark sunken eyes, Abbie got the feeling that this girl had seen some shit. It didn’t help that her attire of a dark teal buckle down hoodie with sleeves a little longer than her arms, and a maroon shirt underneath, along with black leggings, it was pretty clear that this girl wasn’t about to take much shit from anyone, even if she was a little over half the size of anyone else in the group. “My name’s **Erica Gilman** , I’m the **Ultimate Writer** and… I guess it’s nice to meet you all.” Erica rolled her eyes upon saying her last few words and then proceeded to walk over to one of the walls and lean on it.

 

**Erica Gilman**

**Ultimate Writer**

**Teal**  

 

“So how did this, ehh, whole mess happen?” asked Joseph, motioning to the countless number of pieces of the shattered tiger bust. A few people looked at each other waiting for someone to speak up.

“I-It was my fault. See, I-I was talking with Ellie, the girl with the puffballs-”

“Woah wait, am I just going to be known as the girl with the puffballs?!” Ellie interjected.

“No, uh… sorry Ellie… I-I guess it’s only because these four don’t really know any of us and s-so I was trying to make it maybe a l-little bit easier for them… sorry if I hurt your feelings…” 

“Oh, ok, cool!” Ellie seemed pleased by this response. “Carry on, Hans.”

“Anyways, I was talking with Ellie outside the auditorium waiting for people to show up when I a-accidentally put too much of my weight onto the bust… I-it must’ve shifted and from my perspective it looked like it had, uh, well crushed her. S-sorry…”

“No, really! I’m fine Hans!”

“Y-You’re sure?”

“Hey man, she says she’s fine,” responded Nate. “seems like the best course of action might be to just go back into the auditorium and wait for more students.”

“There are what, eleven of us?” counted Bailey. “I wouldn't be shocked if there aren’t at least three more students who’ve yet to arrive.”

Abbie watched Charles as he quickly cut through the many conversations happening at once. “Well, guys, I’m going to suggest that we all move back into the auditorium so that we can at least not have to worry about stepping on any of this rubble. I assume there aren’t any objections?”

The group was silent, and as such, Charles led the way back into the auditorium. Abbie saw Bailey and Ian give visual “eh why not”s and proceeded to follow Charles, followed by nearly everyone. Abbie also followed suit, but held for a moment as she noticed that Erica was still casually hanging against the wall. In her moment of hesitation she turned to Erica and spoke up.

“Are you going to come in with us?”

“What’s the point? Wouldn’t it be easier to wait out here so that when people come they know they’re in the right spot?”

Erica had a point. Maybe people should wait outside to direct everyone else into the auditorium… but then again there were people to meet and interact with more as time went by. Abbie wasn’t sure how much time they’d actually have to get to know everyone, so she had to decide.

“Well… I hope you’ll join me inside… Erica, right?” 

“Yeah… I guess so, though don’t you think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to stay out here? I’d hate for everyone else to be confused.” 

“Well to be fair, I did get here without much help and figured out how to get into the auditorium. I think most people will be alright.”

Erica paused at this point, and then nodded in understand. The two girls, feeling a little more at ease than they had before, walked back into the old, yet spacious auditorium. With now eleven people in the space, people were finding various spaces to communicate and Abbie noticed that the space felt a little bit smaller with all the bustling of bodies making conversation. Abbie wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep track of every single individual in the room, but she was determined to not let the crowd of people overwhelm her. _I mean, we don’t even know why we’re here… I’m sure they’ll explain it when everyone shows up… right?_  

Abbie and Erica had barely stepped out of the way of the door’s range of motion when it it swung open with a magnificent force. The two girls turned around and saw two more figured standing in the space between the atrium and the auditorium. They were girls, but Abbie was aware that these two couldn’t be more different.

The first girl was shorter and a little bulky, clearly holding onto more muscle than most girls. The stronger girl kept her silvery hair in a ponytail that popped out the back of her army-esque hat. She wore a gray uniform which was littered with tiny black squares. The uniform itself seemed vaguely military-like with a few medals just above the girl’s left breast, though Abbie wasn’t able to place what possible division this girl could be. Abbie soon realized that despite this girl’s tough clothing choice, she seemed to have a sweeter, more motherly, face. It was a very shocking contrast, to say the least.

The second girl was, as Abbie previously noted, far different from the muscular girl. She was taller, a bit taller than Abbie, and had long elegant brown hair than seemed to sweep past her bright green cardigan and stark white scarf. Underneath the flowing green fabric was a dark maroon, slightly stretched, tank-top which somehow made the girl look more royal despite the clothes being very casual. As Abbie’s eyes traveled down this girl’s wholesome figure, she saw the girl wore a knee length gray skirt and bright green tights. Of course, by now Abbie had seen and mentally described a bunch of new people, so she was looking for something to differentiate this new, elegant girl from the rest of the crowd. She found it in the way this girl seemed to both hold herself, and move. The exaggerated poses were something to be seen, as, Abbie noticed, they were far more over the top than any normal person would even bother attempting.

“Now Frye, I know that you’ve been anxious to meet new people, but are you sure you’re going to be alright?” asked the elegant girl to the muscular girl.

“Kayla, oh my god! Stop it! I’ll be just fiiiiiiiiiine heeheehee *snort*”

 

_What._

 

_This badass soldier girl… She has a giggle snort?_

 

Abbie beat Erica to the first introduction. “Hey there, uh, I’m Abbie and it’s nice to meet the two of you.” She waited for either girl to respond, but then she realized “Oh and I’m the Ultimate Botanist.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful darling,” proclaimed the green-clad girl, “and allow me to introduce myself. My name is **Kayla van Mullen** and I am the owner of the title of the **Ultimate Actress** !”

 

**Kayla van Mullen**

**Ultimate Actress**

**Lime Green**

 

 _That would explain a lot, actually_. ”Would you like me to describe why I think I got this title?” Abbie didn’t want to say no, but she also didn’t want to have to deal with what was likely to be a very long-winded conversation. 

“Maybe in a bit” Abbie craftily replied, “I still want to meet everyone, y’know?”

“Fair enough. Now, Frye, darling would you like me to introduce you? Or would you rather introduce yourself?”

Kayla looked towards the muscular girl, Frye, and hesitated. Frye seemed unsure at what to do, but then burst into an uncontrollable giggle. Erica, unsure of what to do, slowly backed away from the giggly soldier and was about to make her getaway when the girl composed herself.

“Oh, it’s fine Kayla, don’t worry about me. I’m totally able to introduce myself!” giggled Frye. Abbie, once again unsure of what to say simply waited for the girl’s introduction. “My name is **Emily Frye**. I guess Kayla only calls me that since it’s how I introduced myself to her when I found her in the hallway. I was all like ‘OFFICER FRYE REPORTING’ and stuff! Anyways, I’m the **Ultimate Soldier** because I’m really good working in the field and neutralizing targets!”

 

**Emily Frye**

**Ultimate Soldier**

 **White**  

 

The way Emily seemed to talk about shooting people down with sum vim and vigor sent a chill through Abbie’s spine. No doubt this girl had killed people, but how could be so… saccharine? Abbie was thrown off by the actual dichotomy that was presented in the personality of the Ultimate Soldier. But nevertheless, this girl was one of the other students involved in whatever the hell was going on, so Abbie was sure to accept her as a friend.

“Let’s go introduce you two to the rest of the crowd.” Abbie walked the two girls to the stage, making sure to try to match faces to names as she walked, as to not appear stupid. Eventually the three girls, Abbie, Kayla, and Emily rose to the stage, where everyone else was waiting.

“Now then,” said the defacto leader Charles, “I’m thinking it would be best if we all got into a circle. Helps put faces and names together.”

“I’ve got no objections to that,” chimed in Nate, “Plus, that way we’ll be able to sort of review who everyone is. It should definitely help out the newbies who are just arriving.”

“Okay but first I have a question.” interjected Emily. “So when me and Kayla were out in the outside place thingy, there was like a ton of black rocks on the ground. What the heck happened?”

Everyone involved slowly turned their gazes to Hans and Ellie, who just so happened to be sitting right next to each other. The two looked at each other, unsure of how to begin the explanation, when Charles began speaking. “Well I can’t speak to exact details, but there are some klutzes among us, so you know. But it’s ok too because no one was harmed in the incident.” While Emily seemed satisfied with that explanation, Abbie caught a glimpse of Hans turning away in embarrassment. Abbie did her best to shoot him a hopeful look to make him feel better, though she wasn’t sure if she was able to do the job.

It was Bailey who was next to talk. “So then would you say that we’ve got everyone here? Or do you think there’s still more students coming?” 

“Well, uh, we’ve g-got uh, like thirteen people here now?” stuttered out Hans. “I don’t think that would be right… there should be a few more people coming.” 

 _You know, it would be really funny if immediately after he said that more people show-_  

Abbie’s thought process was interrupted by the very coincidence she imagined would happen. The wooden doors swung open once again to reveal two more people, a boy and girl. Abbie was getting a little tired of having to look at every single person in groups of two and comparing them somehow, but she wasn’t able to change how people showed up. This thought made her feel a little more comfortable as she realized that she wasn’t able to do anything about these people showing up the way they were. _I’ve gotta stop letting my mind drift like I’m writing a freaking story. Calm down internal monologue!_

There was a boy, or what looked to be a boy. He was a very rotund figure, but Abbie could make out his large mass of curly hair. While it wasn’t a typical afro, it was definitely the kind of hair that could only be made with long exposure to wind and water. He seemed to be wearing nothing but a burnt orange sleeveless jacket and a pair of peachy board shorts. Clearly, Abbie thought, this man was for the seas. 

“YO!” the boy yelled “How many of you are up on the stage?” 

“THIRTEEN, I THINK!” responded Maria in an equally loud voice, causing Joseph and Nate who sat next to her, to recoil. “BUT I COULD BE WRONG! I DUNNO IF WE CAN TRUST THE ULTIMATE KLUTZY STUDENT!”

“Hey, Maria, give him a break” pleaded Ellie. “Remember, I’m fine! There's nothing he did that was wrong!” 

Maria seemed to ignoring this comment, as did everyone else as the seaswept boy was rushing straight for the stage. With a single bound, the boy attempted to jump from the seating to the stage. He failed, and fell into the orchestra pit.

“I’M OK! Just gimme a sec!”

“Hey, jumping and falling guy, what’s your name? I’m Maria and I’m the Ultimate Horse Whisperer. Everyone else here has a talent, so what’s yours?”

The boy struggled in the pit, but gave a hearty response nonetheless. “I’m **Logan Melvearl** , and I’m the **Ultimate Sailor** , cool to meet you all! I’ll be up there as soon as I can get outta this mess!” 

 

**Logan Mervearl**

**Ultimate Sailor**

**Burnt Orange**

 

With all the commotion with Logan’s failed attempt at looking cool, Abbie noticed that the girl who had entered with him was averting her gaze, clearly embarrassed. The girl was tall and slender; clearly much more mature than the loser who had just face-planted into a tuba. Her strawberry-blonde hair had a wonderfully dainty pink bow tied near the top of her head. The girl wore a pale pink peacoat with large black buttons that were unbuttoned near the top showing a black blouse and bleached white jeans that had splotches of blue here and there. Abbie wanted to call out to her to make sure the girl was acknowledged, but she was beat to the punch by another voice. 

“And you there! Are you alright?” asked the seemingly regal voice of Kayla van Mullen.

“Oh, sorry, I was.. Well I was more or less trying to figure out how to impress you all after that stunning performance by Logan.” The girl half laughed to herself while she spoke. Her lower voice seemed to resonate through the halls and seemed to exude an aura of authority, not unlike Charles’ voice. _It’s like she’s used to telling people what to do_ . “Let me come up to the stage by stairs before I introduce myself”, and with the strong-tempered girl made her way up to the stage. Logan also managed to get himself out of his self-inflicted mess and joined the circle as well. The strong girl sat slowly down, brushing away any excess dust that littered the stage and crossed her legs. With the fifteen students now sitting in a circle the strong girl once again spoke up. “My name is **Kristen Kaspartack** , and considering that Mr. Melvearl shared his ultimate Talent with you all, I suppose I should share mine with you guys too. I am known as the **Ultimate Director**. Basically I know how to make kickass movies and tell people how to make them. You get the idea.”

 

**Kristen Kaspartack**

**Ultimate Director**

**Pale Pink**

 

_So we’ve got the Ultimate Boat Lover, Ultimate Person who commands authority, what’s next? It’s like the next one’s gonna fall out of the sky or something._

“So then there’s fifteen now. What does that mean?” asked Ian. 

“It means that we’ve either got everyone, or we’re waiting on one more person” said Charles in a more manner of fact attitude. “ I can’t imagine them making us meet more than fifteen new people.”

“Uhm, when you say them,” asked Erica in a quieter voice, “who do you mean?” 

“Well the people who wrote those letters. I mean, unless you think that we were all kidnapped or something.”

Lexi looked slightly exasperated at the thought. “Well shit, if we’re all kidnapped, you might as well just drop that fucking light on me. It’s literally lights out for us all.”

“No, I don’t think we’re kidnapped” proposed Kristen. “I think that if we were kidnapped, it would be like… well it would be a lot scarier. I imagine we’d be all chained up with guns to our heads, y’know?” 

“Uh, no?” Abbie was thrown off by that response. “Sorry, Kristen, was it? What the heck do you mean, guns to our heads?” 

Kristen seemed a bit more relaxed and confident with her response. “Oh, sorry, I guess I mean that we’d probably not have the freedom to interact with each other and walked around, y’know?” Her new response made far more sense to Abbie than the initial statement, and based on the reactions of the people sitting next to her, they understood what Kristen meant as well.

“Yeah but not to take away from anything but, like, if there is another student, how are we supposed to know that, like, they’ll even show up?”

“Logan raises a good point,” added Joseph. “If there, uh, is in fact a sixteenth student, how are we supposed to know he or she isn’t lurking in the halls somewhere?”

Abbie began to yawn. She wasn’t sure how to answer anyone’s question, but she was distracted by a slight rattling noise above her. While everyone was looking around for the final student, Abbie turned her head towards the lights. As she looked up, she saw the figure of a boy in the rafters of the stage walking on a catwalk, or at least she thought she did. The lights were glaring down on her so it was difficult for her to be sure that was she saw was really there. But no, that was definitely the figure of a boy wearing a large jacket. 

“I’m pretty sure that the last student would have to be a guy. We’ve got only seven guys compared to the eight girls here, so you think they’d want an even balance of guys and girl.” Observed Bailey, unaware of the figure right above him. 

“Hey guys?” Abbie started whilst pointing her index finger upwards towards the light, “I think I’ve just found our sixteenth student.” Everyone followed Abbie’s finger as she motioned towards the rafters and catwalks that sat above the circle.

“How the heck did he even get up there?” Abbie turned to the sound of Ian’s voice. Abbie didn’t have time to answer his question because of Maria’s ear-piercing shriek. Abbie once against turned her head upwards to see that the boy and his fluttery jacket had jumped off the beam and was hurdling towards the black wooden floorboards of the stage.

Everyone began to panic.

“Ian, you’re big, catch him!” cried Ellie. 

“Does ANYONE have a pillow?” called out Logan.

The sounds of the chaos were quickly muted by the loud boom of the boy landing on the ground. As the dust cleared, Abbie saw that the boy had landed strong on his feet, and was grinning. Shocked, she, Emily and Joseph rushed towards the boy.

“How the heck did he survive the fall?” asked Emily in a harsh whisper while rushing to the boy’s side. 

“That’s just it,” said Joseph, “based on the huge height and way he landed, there’s no way that he should’ve been able to survive this fall.”

“Hey, dude, are you alright?” Abbie asked

The boy didn’t respond. If anything his stupid grin grew even larger, though his breathing began to grow heavier and heavier. The heavy breathing slowly turned to a hushed giggle, then full on cackles, which in turn turned to loud screams of pain.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK MY FEET! SHIT! THAT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!”

Abbie, Joseph and Emily all looked at each other and kind of shrugged. None of them had any idea of how to respond to the outcry of what had just happened. The boy then collapsed and began to writhe on the floor while holding his feet.

“I’m not hallucinating this, am I?”

“No Abbie, Joseph and I are seeing this too.” 

As the boy continued to shout about “FUCKING CRAMPS” the remaining students all gathered around. Clearly they weren’t in any danger and the boy, despite being otherwise very loud, was in no immediate danger.

“A fucking cramp?!” Lexi was annoyed more than anything. “We thought you had like, killed yourself or something!” The boy slowly stopped convulsing on the floor and began to rise, albeit slowly. 

“How did you survive that jump?” inquired Abbie.

“I just calculated it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, and it was faster than taking those stairs. You know how gravity works and everything.”

Everyone groaned.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” said Lexi, clearly done with the boy who had just fallen forty feet was talking as if it were nothing. “ you expect us to just fucking believe that you jumped, risking your fucking life just so that it would save you a few seconds?”

“No really,” said the boy as he shakily rose, “I had my jacket to create some drag and I basically just did the math in my head. It wasn’t too hard really.” Abbie gave the boy a look over. His messy sandy gray-blonde hair seemed to resemble some kind of function while his grayish blue eyes seemed to exude a level of calm intelligence, which Abbie found ironic given his circumstances. He was wearing a large, unzipped gray winter jacket over a black shirt with a white cubic design on it. He was also wearing black shorts with two white stripes running down the sides. The jacket had patches of white dust on it which Abbie initially thought to be dust, though she soon realize was chalk powder.

“So then, let me guess, you’re like the Ultimate Physics dude” guessed Bailey.

“Oh! My name! That’s right!” With a large grin, the boy spoke plainly, which Abbie found a little strange. “My name is **Peter Coltdev** and if you couldn’t tell based off that SPECTACULAR exhibition, I’m the **Ultimate Mathematician**.”

 

**Peter Coltdev**

**Ultimate Mathematician**

**Gray**

 

The group slowly recovered from the initial shock of Peter’s fall. And began to murmur to one another.

_That’s sixteen… is that finally everyone?_

“Well, now what?” asked the Ultimate Lucky Student. “Sixteen’s a pretty nice number, all things considered."

“I-I’m pretty sure th-there’ll be some sort of announcement…” mumbled Hans.

He was correct since through the speakers came a familiar, and reassuring tone. It was a tone that often signified the hour in an ordinary school building. *bing* *bong* But unfortunately, that seemed to be the end of the familiarity as during the third “bing” the audio suddenly cut out. 

“Is anyone else having a little trouble maintaining your balance?” asked Kristen. Abbie noticed it too. Between the audio cutting out and the floor suddenly feeling like it was beginning to shake, something was clearly wrong. Abbie looked around to see if anyone else was worried about their situations, and sure enough, Logan and Joseph were well aware of what was happening.

“Guys! This is an EARTHQUAKE!” Logan’s loud voice was very helpful in alerting everyone of their situation. Joseph added too. “It might not be a big one, but if that was just a precursor of what’s to come, we’ve gotta get out of this old auditorium! Something might fall and hit someone!” None hesitated to make a break for the wooden doors. Abbie had to wonder if Peter was the cause of this whole earthquake, but then she stopped that train of thought. It didn’t matter who did this, what mattered is that everyone got out ok. Of course that meant Abbie herself too, but that wasn’t stopping her from helping her new classmates. Abbie saw Ian, Nate and Emily making sure that people were getting out alright, holding doors open and everything and joined their effort. Erica and Bailey were the first few to get out of the room alright, followed by Ellie, Kristen, Kayla and Peter, all of whom were moving in a pack for some reason.

As everyone made their way out, Abbie and the other three people helping made sure that everyone was ok, but something was off… _Where’s Lexi?!_ For some reason, Lexi hadn’t been with the rest of the group as they all evacuated the auditorium, as she had twisted her ankle when jumping from the stage. “Fuck, you guys, can I get some help?” Abbie began to rush to Lexi, but Lexi kept walking. The quake was getting larger now and parts of the ceiling began to collapse. The rickety old lights, for one, began detaching from their already old beams, and started to fall to earth.

“Lexi! Watch out for the falling lights!”

Abbie cried out, but right as she did, one of the lights came loose and fell just barely missing Lexi’s head. Lexi seemed to let out a sigh of relief, and took a step forward, only to have the ground warp beneath her foot, causing her to trip and hit her head on the fallen light. It was almost karmic how her head seemed to land on top of the light. Abbie froze in horror as she saw her first friend conk out on the floor, a small trickle of pink dripping from the girl’s forehead which stained the fringes of her blouse. She wasn’t the only one, as Emily immediately rushed over to the girl, amidst the falling lights and concrete, picked her up in a fireman’s carry, and sprinted out of the collapsing room. Abbie looked to Ian and Nate, and wasted no time getting out of the auditorium.

The three of them espcaed the falling room to find that the atrium’s state wasn’t much better. The remaining tiger statues were falling over and shattering into pieces. “HEY EVERYONE, THE DOORS ARE LOCKED! WE’RE STUCK HERE!” Abbie wasn’t sure who said that last comment, but it didn’t bode well for her.

 

*thud*

 

The Ultimate Mathematician had run into her, causing the two of them to fall over onto the floor. “Goddamn it, I’m so sorry.” He sputtered as Abbie saw what had him so flustered. Not only had Lexi hit her head and passed out, but it looked like somehow Emily had also lost consciousness. In fact, she turned to see that Ian, who had been standing next to her not a minute ago, was also now passed out on the floor.

Abbie pivoted left and turned to the other boy standing next to her, Nate, and asked in a panicked yell, “Is everyone just dropping like flies?!” She turned to her right and saw Peter standing and holding his head, in a shockingly composed manner with his last in a strange position. He looked like he was thinking of something despite the ground shaking, and it looked like, to Abbie, that is legs were positioned in such a way to keep him upright despite the tremors. “What are you thinking about at a time like this?!”

“Just gimme sec!” Peter responded back. Despite the fact that one of the larger busts crashed to pieces right next to him, he remained focused. Abbie didn’t have time to deal with this guy, and she turned back to Nate, only Nate was now on the ground tending to Kristen and Charlie who had fallen over on top of each other, passed out. _This is really bad! No shit sherlock! Shut up we’ve got a crisis here!_ Abbie scanned the room for any safe place for everyone who had passed out, but then she realized that she had no idea what to do in an earthquake, which made her feel even more panicked than she already was.

Upon a second scan of the room, she saw that there were only three people seemingly left standing, herself, Nate and Peter. Everyone else had fallen over in some way that made things a lot more complicated. Abbie wondered how she and the other two boys might be able to get everyone out of the situation they found themselves in when she started to feel very lightheaded. Abbie tried to turn her head, but was overwhelmed with a nauseous sensation, and she collapsed. As she fell, she saw the other two boys’ legs collapse from underneath them and pass out. Her vision was swimming, but her brain was still functioning, albeit very weakly. With the last of her strength, she tried to think, but could only manage a couple questions before losing consciousness.

 

_This… is this…_

 

_Is it… how… how I?_

 

 

_...I die?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's fun. In the original place where I wrote this, I would outline the characters with a certain color to match their aesthetic. Seeing as I can't do that here, you'll have to settle for the color descriptions about them and hope for the best. 
> 
> Apologies also if the introductions to everyone were a little dry. I wanted to have it be organic, but not overly repetitive like how the first game's introductions are, or how the second game has everyone exploring around to find everyone. In any case, I hope you stay tuned to keep reading to find out what happens to our heroes and students! This story is only just beginning!


	3. Prologue: Beginnings Are Always the Most Strange - Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after the earthquake, we have to do something right? It would be so boring to end things right there with everyone just collapsing right there and ending the story. Maybe something will happen? We might even meet a kooky bear this time around?
> 
> Oh and enjoy my edgy bullshit in attempts to create mysteries. I think they're fun.

* * *

 

"The things that make me different are the things that make me." - A. A. Milne

 

* * *

 

The room was very dark. The whir of machines was in full swing, but none of the action was at all visible. A voice rang out in my head.

“Tell me something, would you? How well do you know your friends? I mean really think about it for a second. Let’s say… Oh, I dunno you were in a life or death situation with fifteen other people? What if the only way fifteen students could survive was if you killed yourself? Would you go to extreme lengths to save your friends? Talk about a tough choice. Doesn’t it just fill you with…  fear?”

I was struck. My friends are in danger? I then spoke aloud.

"You know, I never had given it thought until now. But I'm glad I asked."

 

* * *

 

“Upupupupu… you freaking plant-loving idiot… this isn’t how you die… You’ll have to wait for that… upupupu” cackled an eerily playful voice

“What?! Who said that?!” Abbie bolted upwards from the desk she was sitting in. But before she could even try to make out who had spoken those devilish words in her ear, she heard a familiar voice cry out. 

“Uggggggggh, who the fuck is talking so goddamn loudly…?” 

 _Lexi! She’s ok!_  

“Lexi!” Abbie exclaimed “You’re alright! You’re not dead! Oh thank god!” Abbie got out of the desk she was sitting at, rushed over to the girl who had hit her head and hugged her. Even though Abbie had only known her for… _Wait, how long was I knocked out?_ Abbie had no idea how much time had passed since the earthquake, and for that matter where she was. Well either way, the fact that Abbie hadn’t known Lexi for very long didn’t stop her from being glad that the Ultimate Dancer was still alive. But as Abbie inspected Lexi’s head, she found no injury whatsoever.

“Yeah? I mean, it was just a slight bump. I’m fine… my vision’s just spinning a little still... 

“But your injury, it’s just, uh, gone!”

“What do you mean, it’s ‘gone’?  

“Abbie froze at that question. _How long were we knocked out for?_ Abbie’s sense of temporal reasoning had completely evaporated. Sure she was still wearing the same clothes, as was Lexi. Though, Abbie did notice that the stain that had one blemished Lexi’s blouse had seemingly vanished into thin air. Not wanting to raise too much of a fuss about Lexi’s clothes, she ignored it. _How the hell did that stain just vanish? Can I even explain it right now? Fifty bucks says I’m just being stupid just by letting this slide…. But I’m not going to forget about this._ Returning to the problem of “when” they were, Abbie around the blurry room in search of a clock. 

The room was slowly fading into focus and Abbie saw that she was sitting in what looked like a classroom. There were desks scattered about, as well as a window on the left side of the room that showed the bright sun shining behind patches of wispy clouds. Near the front of the room there was a single black chalkboard with a strange drawing of what seemed to be a mathematical equation. _39 times 283? Bah, I can’t do that in my head. I kind need that weird Ultimate Math Whiz for that._ To the right of the chalkboard there was a modern looking door that was slightly propped open, allowing for a gentle breeze to sift through the room.  Otherwise, aside from the rather ominous looking intercom speaker system, video monitor and camera system in the left corner of the room, there didn’t appear to be anything too out of place from having this room be a standard university discussion room. 

“O-Oh it’s probably just nothing… maybe it just healed a little quicker? I… I don’t really know how to explain this...”

“Huh?”

Abbie had been so lost in observing the room that she had absent-mindedly tuned out her new friend.

“Oh were you not listening to my problems? Wow, how dare you.” Lexi retorted in a playfully sarcastic tone. 

“No sorry, I was just looking around at everything… what little there is I mean.

“Hey you ugly ultimate chumps! Wake your ugly butts up off the ground and come to your convocation! Your dean is waiting to give you the rules of your time here at the University of Monosota, and he isn’t feeling **_beary_ ** patient today!”

A shudderingly familiar voice rang out over the intercom system throughout the University Building. But where had she heard that voice?

“Well shit, who’s talking now?” asked an audibly annoyed Lexi.  

The speaker then came on again. “Man, you all didn’t even bother to let me know that I forgot to tell you where to go. You bastards are to report to the gymnasium PRONTO, capice!?”

Abbie felt uneasy at the sound of the playful voice. Clearly there was someone intimidating lurking beneath the otherwise amused sounding voice, but there was something wrong here. Maybe it was the fact that she had heard the voice in her head while passed out. Maybe it was because she had passed out and didn’t know where she was to begin with. Maybe it was because she couldn’t even remember how she had gotten to wherever the fuck she was to begin with. She could feel the dread begin to sink in, and in little to no time, she was beginning to feel tiny beads of sweat form on her forehead.

“Hello? Earth to Abbie? What the hell was that?” Abbie turned to face Lexi with a pallid expression. “Woah, you don’t look so great. You ok? You didn’t like, get sick or something while we were knocked out, did you?” 

“No... I’ll be fine, I promise. I’m just… I dunno how to put it.” 

“You’re scared?” 

Abbie laughed at how forward the girl in front of her was.

“Hah, maybe you’re right. I’m sure everything will be ok, y’know?”

Lexi stood and placed her hands on Abbie’s shoulders. “Yeah, pull yourself together, I’m gonna be fine, and if you stick with me, so will you.” It was a small reassurance, but Abbie felt a little better just hearing the injured girl speak with such vigor. Abbie pulled Lexi in for a quick, thankful hug, and then the two of them looked at each other for a moment.

“So, the gymnasium… you wouldn’t happen to know where it is, would you?”

“What, do I looked like I’ve got a fucking map? Please.” 

“Sorry, jeez,” Abbie was about to get offended by Lexi’s comment, but she then realized that Lexi really hadn’t meant anything mean with her comment. Abbie paused and then remembered. “Hey, you remember when we basically walked in a straight path and somehow found the auditorium? I can’t imagine things will be too difficult to find”

“Are YOU the Ultimate Lucky Student?”

“Well, no but-” 

“But, it can’t hurt. Plus, sounds like that creepy whateverthefuck voice has it out for us. I don’t really wanna piss whatever the fuck made that sound off.”

Abbie blinked and then nodded confidently. She felt invigorated once again, and felt ready to take on their “dean of students”. After scanning the room once more to see if she had forgotten anything, she and Lexi gathered themselves, turned off the lights, and made their way down the marble hallways.

They were in a different spot from before, and neither girl recognized the pictures that lined the walls of the hallways. They also made an effort to open any door they walked past, though upon all discoveries, all the doors were locked.This didn’t come as a surprise to either of them since they hadn’t been unlocked last time, so why would they be unlocked now?  One thing that Abbie seemed to notice was that there didn’t appear to be any doors that led outside. _Are we really being kept indoors? I wonder if I could maybe break some of these windows. What would even happen?_ But Abbie chose not to act on any of those thoughts, she couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy for some reason. She turned to Lexi expecting a level of confident, but instead Abbie was met with a fairly blank expression. _Maaaaaaaaaybe now isn’t the best time to talk about things._

The two walked a little further until they came to another clearing, a different one at that. In the middle of the room there were two very large spiral staircases arranged in a double helix that went to the floor above and below. There were large heavy looking doors that had the words “MAIN HALL” painted on them across the hall from the girls. To the girl’s left there was a flashing sign that read “CAFETERIA” and to the girl’s right another sign that read “GYMNASIUM”.  Abbie took a step forward to see if there was a sign above them, and sure enough, there was one that read “CLASSROOMS AND ACTIVITY ROOMS”. Abbie immediately ran to the stairs and peered upwards. The upper floor seemed to be blocked off, but the lower floor looked to be accessible. Backing up, Abbie turned to see that there was a sign that pointed downward, in the direction of the dormitories. Abbie also saw that the stairs appeared to go further down, but her peering was interrupted by Lexi. 

“So are you going to lean over the railing all day, or are we gonna go see what the hell is going on?”

“Right! Sorry! I was just checking everything out!” Abbie ran across the black and white tiled floor to meet Lexi at the doors leading to the gymnasium. Abbie couldn’t help but smile despite being nervous. In situations like these, it was important for her to maintain a level of brightness more or less, and while she was still very put off by the sound of the creepy voice, she figured that if she could put a face to a voice, things would be significantly less unnerving. 

The two girls opened the doors together to find that everyone else had been waiting for them inside. They were all sort of cluttered together in the way that one might observe ordinary teenagers conversing. Some were talking with each other, while others at on a few silver bleachers that appeared to have been pulled out for some kind of assembly. One of the girls, Emily, screamed with joy and rushed over to Lexi.  

“Oh thank GOD! You’re ok! I was so worried about you, did you know that?!” 

“Hey, thanks, but I’m fine really.”

“Well lemme at least have a teensy little peek at your w-”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh good! Looks like everyone’s finally here!” 

 _That voice…_ Abbie tried to picture what kind of person could have such a creepily playful voice. _Maybe it’s some kind of boy who’s right half of his body is flipped inside out, or something weird like that._

A rumble came over the gymnasium. Abbie hadn’t gotten a good look of the place yet, but she saw that the circular design in the middle of the gym where Hans was standing, appeared to be standing was quickly opening up, and a large podium was rising. While Hans jumped out of the way to escape injury, Abbie caught a glimpse of something fuzzy that sat atop the podium. It was a weird-looking teddy bear that had one half look completely plain and white, while the other half looked dark and menacing. A shiver ran down Abbie’s spine the moment she saw the bear, she couldn’t place why, but she knew something was horribly, horribly wrong. The podium rose, but eventually lurched to a halt, creating a weird silence in the gym.

Suddenly, the teddy bear rose to life.

“Hey you disobedient little farts! Get your asses onto the bleachers so you can listen to convocation!”, it shouted with a strange menacing tone.

“What the fuck.” Charles was dumbfounded

“My goodness, did that bear… just talk?” asked Kayla in an uneasy voice.

“Wha… what did you just say?” Peter asked the bear ” Depending on your answer I may have to kick your ass!”

“How the heck is a freakin’ stuffed bear even talking?” asked Logan, more confused than anything.

“Oh my gosh it’s so cute I wanna give it a hug!” Maria, without warning ran up to the podium, and attempted to grab the teddy bear that sat atop the podium.  

“Hey! No touching the dean of students!” Screeched the bear, “It’s against the rules!” Maria paused for a moment, unaware of the danger that lurked before her. Maria once against tried to wrap her arms around the plush toy, but was immediately met with a loud bang and surge of electricity. 

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Abbie saw Maria fly back after Maria’s attempted hug. It looked as if the girl had been zapped with some kind of static electricity or something, but Abbie was no expect in that field. Maria crumpled to the ground, but moments later she rose, brushing the dust off of her shoulders and quietly took her place on the bleachers. Seeing as Maria, the wild child of the group went to the bleachers, the others students, Abbie included, found their way to the stands. Abbie seated herself near the back of the stands so she might be able to get a better view of everyone. She saw Nate and Charles sit closer to the front of the stands, clearly agitated, while Kayla, Emily and Kryisten were trying to make small talk behind the boys. Bailey found himself walking over to the front of the bleachers where Ellie sat, but Abbie couldn’t see much of them since Ian and Logan, who had sat in front of them, had decided to sit next to Maria. Joseph sat by himself and seemed to enjoy the space, when Hans slowly walked up beside him and sat. Erica also sat alone, but unlike Joseph no one approached her. Abbie was contemplating moving when the mathematician and the dancer approached her.

“Hey, you mind if I sit here? I know it throws off the whole ‘pairs’ thing, are you ok with that?” Peter seemed far more reserved, yet confident, compared to when Abbie first saw him jump from the catwalk. _Is this maybe the true Peter Coltdev?_ Abbie also saw Lexi, but unlike Peter, Lexi didn’t feel like she needed to ask permission to sit with them. Abbie simply nodded, and smiled to herself knowing that no matter what happened next, she at least had these two people sitting next to her.

Once everyone was seated, the bear began to speak… somehow _There’s no speaker or anything. How the heck is this even happening right now?_ Abbie’s questions weren’t answered as the bear introduced himself.

“Ahem… testing… TESTing… hellu? Can everyone hear me?”

“YES.” shouted Peter. His voice was much more resonant than Abbie thought it would’ve been considering their previous interactions. 

“Hey!” the bear retorted, “shaddup! You don’t want to end up like your busty idiot friend do you? I’d hate to enact punishment on a disruptive student so soon into your term!”

 _I know that_ _THING_ _is supposed to be cute and fluffy… but I don’t think he’s messing around._ Peter seemed to share this sentiment, but he gave the bear a playfully defiant smile and shut up.

“Okay, maybe if we could ixnay on the vocal outbursts, that would be **bear** -y nice.” _Bear puns too? Oh for fuck’s sake._ “

“Listen, Mr. Bear, I’ll have you know that stepping on other people’s lines is-”

“It’s sinful, I know.” In an ironic fashion, the teddy bear cut Kayla off from what Abbie saw to be a well-rehearsed speech. Dejected, Kayla simply folded her arms, assumed an annoyed look and listened. “So, anyone else got something to say?”

“Actually ye-” Joseph started.

“No? Good!” It was as if the teddybear hadn’t even heard the question that Joseph had raised, or at least the start of it. Abbie listened on with dread as the bear continued to speak. “Well, now we finally start with introductions, even if we’re like wayyyy behind schedule. First of aller ***ahem*** grrrrrrrrreeting my new students, and welcome to the University of Monosota! I am your dean of students, and head of all undergraduate affairs, Monobear!” The bear seemed to be delighted to say his own name with such vigor and gusto, and as Abbie turned to see some of the other students acting with slight confusion, she was glad to see that she wasn’t alone.

“Yo, like, what the hell is this bear even going on about?” asked Logan in a voice that Abbie wasn’t sure whether was out of fear, or amusement. “University of Monosota? I dunno about the rest of you guys, but I DEFINITELY didn’t apply to some stupid sounding school like that.” 

“Oh for crying out loud, do I need to put duct tape over all of your guys’ mouths? Jeesh. Talk about insubordination over here. Why the hell did I even bother admitting you tards here if you’re just going to talk over me? Maybe you’d all like it if I were to cut out your tongues?” A wave of silence fell over the room. “That’s MUCH better! Anywayyyyyyyyys, welcome to your first semester of mutual killing! I hope you’re all aware that your direct admission to your specific major, in this case ‘Murderous Studies’, is in fulllll swing!”

A murmur ran over the sixteen students and everyone looked around at each other. Some, like Kayla and Kristen were alarmed. Others, like Nate seemed intent on staring Monobear down. Abbie turned to see that Peter was simply swinging around an earbud, as if he had tuned out the bear entirely. Astonished, Abbie bumped the boy. “Are you even listening to this guy- er, bear?” Peter simply shrugged.

“I mean, kinda? I didn’t really feel like it was that important or anything. I’m not big on talking animals anyways.”

 _How can this guy be serious? This fucking bear is talking about killing people and he’s just sitting there?_ Abbie turned her attention back to the white and black bear.

“Now then, during your stay here at the University of Monosota, there will plenty of things for you to do! There will be classes, chores, and plenty of time to do whatever your painfully naive hearts desire! Now, while all the classes are optional, should you break any of the rules, I will be assigning you homework which will count for approximately 43% of your grade, so don’t mess it up!”

“Now that’s some shit, lemme tell you. Who even bothers putting in work on those otherwise completely pointless practice problems that really serve no purpose?” asked an irritated Bailey. 

“I do.”

“Shut up Ian, I’m trying to prove a point.”

“You’re not doing a very good job at it. Just sayin.”

“Hey, tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb-as-bag-of-rocks, why don’t you all can it!” Again, there was silence. “But I digress, the big thing is that you’re gonna be here for a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY long time!” 

“So wait! You’re just gonna like, y’know, make us sorta stay here forever?” Emily interrupted “Mannnn, that’s not cool at all.” While Abbie obviously couldn’t read the expression of the small stuffed bear from where she was sitting it would have seemed as if the bear was actually glad that Emily had interrupted him.

“I here I thought that hired muscle wasn’t at all smart! But for real kiddies, if you’re really that desperate to leave this distinguished university, then I suppose the only real way you’re getting out by one of two ways! Graduation, or payment!”

“Ok, I get graduation,” responded Ellie, “but we can pay for our degrees too?”

“Hush hush! I’m getting there! Let me explain how to graduate with your degrees first! Hope you aren’t going to try to interrupt me, since if you do, I’m just gonna start all over! Not a single peep!” 

And with that that, the lights in the gymnasium lowered and spotlight shone onto Monobear.

“First things’ first! Should you want to leave here, you can graduate with a degree in murderous studies.” 

“You already said that, you dumb bear!” shouted Maria 

“First things’ first! Should you want to leave here, you can graduate with a degree in murderous studies. And I told you chumps I wasn’t kidding. If I get interrupted, I’ll just right from the beginning! Upupupupu… isn’t that a wonderful feeling?” 

There was no response. 

“Fine, don’t take the bait! Fine! It’s not like I wanted you guys to take it anyways… Oh but right, how to graduate. I promise I’ll tell you how to do it now! Like the title suggests, and the name of this semester and everything, you’ll all be taking part in a wonderful semester of mutual killing! Isn’t that just the most fun thing you’ve ever heard?” Abbie wanted to respond with a harsh no, but she figured that it would make the bear start over, and the last thing she wanted was for everyone to hate her guts.

“So how do you graduate? Man, I’ve just been dancing around that question, haven’t I! Well lemme tell you! In order to escape this university and semester of mutual killing, you have to kill someone else!” A heavy silence once again fell over the room. The weight of Monobear’s words seemed to hit like a sledgehammer with all sixteen students sitting in the room at that moment.

“But hey, don’t be so scared you dweebs! You’ll have a chance to investigate after a murder, and eventually a class trial will be held for the remaining student to find the killer! See? It’s pretty b-fair after all! So basically, if the killer, known as the blackened, can avoid the vote of their classmates they’ll graduate, while the rest of their peers will be sentenced to punishment! And by punishment, I mean you’ll all be killed in hilariously ironic fashions! But, if you all somehow identify the blackened, they they’ll get the fun and hilarious execution! And if you’re all wondering what kind of irony I mean, think if it like that one gum-loving girl from that one stupid story about a chocolate factory that blows up after turning into a blueberry! That kind of irony!”

Abbie had a tough time following Monobear’s analogy as she was still hung up on the whole idea of killer her classmates. _Nobody would ever resort to… killing? Would they? Would I?_  

“But you’ll all have to wait for that fun stuff! But I’m **bear** -y confident that we’ll get to see plenty of murders play out! Oh! And a few other rules! First of all, no matter what, a dead body appears, we have a class trial. It’s really as simple as that! It doesn’t matter who dies, or how, we have a class trial. Heck, someone could die peacefully in their sleep one night, and as boring as that would be, we’d still have to hold one to hold SOMEONE accountable. But that leads me to the last big rule. There will only be one person held accountable and punished, and that is the person who is responsible for the crime. I ‘m a reasonable bear, you’ll come to find, and if someone were to get injured by my paw that didn’t deserve it, well, I’d use my magic powers to make them feel allllllllllll better!”

Abbie felt sick to her stomach. Her mind was racing, and her heart seemed to beat several times a second. _What’s around me? Who’s around me? Can I fend myself off if I need to? Well I’m sure as hell not going to be able to beat the Ultimate Guy Who Carries Two Swords On His Back… but can I really kill one of these people? Do I have the guts to do it?_

“You monster!” The soldier yelled with a confident voice. “Killing people without purpose is wrong and and awful and you should be ashamed! If there’s not a very good reason to kill, then it’s obviously not ok!”

“Oh, you, you wonderful girl you. Upupupupu… don’t you worry, there’ll be plenty of reasons for you to kill your peers. In fact, I bet there are at least five of you right now who are somehow plotting to commit murder in your own heads!” Abbie felt a twinge of guilt upon hearing Monobear’s words. Sure she wasn’t outright planning to kill someone here, but she wasn’t about to lie to herself that she hadn’t thought about wringing someone’s neck. She didn’t hang to the thought though since the bear seemed to keep talking, despite all the rules he had just sputtered out. 

“And onto the second way you can get out of this wonderfully challenging university! Payment!” Abbie was most excited about this idea, and it seemed like everyone else was too. Abbie had a hunch that there were some people in the room, Kayla or Charles for example, who probably came from pretty wealthy families, and would easily be able to pay off any dues that were forced upon them. This thought of course led Abbie to a different thought. _Are we being held hostage?_  

“Are we being held hostage?” asked Nate. It seemed that Abbie wasn’t the only one thinking about Monobear’s statements either. “And I don’t mean to interrupt you, but seriously, is that why we’re all here?” 

“Puhuhuhu, jeez, I thought that you all would have quit with the questions… but maybe I can cut you a break since you were all so polite when I was talking about the big rules! But that’s it! No more mercy from this ol’ bear! No sir!” there seemed to be a collective sigh from everyone in the gymnasium, knowing that the bear wasn’t going to enact various forms of cruel and unusual punishment to them for the moment. 

“Now then, payment! The other way to get out of here is to make a very big payment! What kind of payment you might ask? Well I’ll tell you! If you pay with YOUR LIFE you’ll be able to get out of here just fine!” The crowd gasped. “I’ve read various biased articles that say that when you die, your soul goes off to a magical faraway land where you get judged! And eventually depending on your crimes in the real world, you get to be born again as a salmon! And then bears like me get to eat you fro breakfast! How great is that?” 

“S-So you’re saying that basically, uh, we, uh basically have to kill someone or die to get out of h-here? There’s really only one way out?” asked Hans awkwardly.

“Yep!”

“Y-You’re sure?” Abbie was perplexed by Hans’ seemingly unnecessary rebuttal to Monobear’s question. Given that Hans also hadn’t revealed his Ultimate Talent, Abbie felt uneasy towards the otherwise unimpressive and timid looking boy.

“Whaddya take me for, some kind of imbecile? Please. If there were a way to get outta here without me knowing, I would know.”

“How does that make anysense, Mr. Monobear?” asked Joseph. “If you didn’t know, about something how could you know about it? Isn’t that not a paradox?”

“The University of Monosota encourages critical thinking, but it doesn’t involve being critical of my thinking!”

Lexi giggled a little bit at Monobear’s seemingly thoughtless statement. Abbie couldn’t help but laugh at the bear as well. If anything, maybe her time being constantly wouldn’t be as bad if she was able to find a common ground with people making fun of Monobear. But then of course, Abbie remembered that people would likely be too concerned with other people trying to kill each other than trying to make friends.

 _What a stupid cycle. I’ll try to make friends and shit, but like, I’m not going to get killed, I know that much. I’m the protagonist of this story, I can’t die. Then again, everyone’s the protagonist of their own story, and they’re probably all thinking the same thing… well it’s like… fuck. Ok, new plan, I’ll try to make everyone think I’m a supporting friend character story and as long as I don’t die when there are like five people left, I’ll be ok! Man, I wish I could read other people’s thoughts right now… I bet that Ultimate Math Guy Who Doesn’t Care About This Whole Deal_ _is probably thinking about something mathy like Lagrange's Remainder Theorem or something pointless like that…_ Abbie turned head head slightly to get a glimpse of Peter’s expression, but she was shocked to see that the boy was intently staring at Monobear. _Oh shit am I tuning out that bear now? Shit, ok let’s see if we can't’ pick up the pieces as to where he left off…_

“... And that’s how babies are made! Any questions?”

“Yeah,” responded a confused Ian, “how does that relate at all to killing people? Also, we’ve had sex-ed… You do realize we’re not completely dumb, right?”

“Wellllllllllllllll, if none of youse are thinkin’ of killing anyone, you’d best be off making some kiddies!”

_Thank God I stopped paying attention._

“Now then,” Monobear began with a tone of finality in his voice, “the last thing I have to say to all of you is that this is very obviously a real thing. You are real, the world is real, and the rules are real, so I’m telling you right now. Breaking the rules that I’ve enacted, or going against my plans and sabotaging all the groundwork, or damaging school property is strictly forbidden. You’ll find the rest of the rules in your iMonos that you’ll find in your rooms. Those will have all the necessary information for your time here, including a student ID, the other general rules on campus, and some other fun things! But I got ahead of myself! Breaking the rules is against the rules! And don’t think that I’m a lenient dean… I WILL make your punishment stick!”

Monobear then paused.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a long pause.

 

“So… now what?” chimed in Abbie with some nervous laughter. “Do we just, y’know, go?”

“And finally, assuming that you all end up killing each other, the winner of these games will be the last two people standing! If there are two of you left, then you two will both be allowed to graduate, no questions asked!” _Finally something reassuring… but can I really outlive fourteen other people?_

“And, yeah! That’s about it! Now go move into your dorms and do some stupid icebreakers or something! What the hell do people even do when they’ve never met anyone else before? Jeez, I’m glad that I’m not in charge of the orientation committee.” As Monobear mumbled out the last bits of his speech, he twirled and vanished into thin air. The sudden disappearance startled Abbie, but it also didn’t surprise her given that the bear looked to be pretty magical as is. 

Abbie took a look around the room. No one knew what to do at that point. Ian was sitting on the front bleacher, slowly reaching for the hilt of one of his swords with a troubled look on his face. Ellie was holding her legs and rocking back and forth on the floor mumbling to herself. Joseph sat next to her and stared down at the ground with a gloomy expression of dread. On the right side of the bleachers Maria had begun to cry, to which Kristen rushed over to her and tried comforting her. Logan also tried to run over towards Maria but he tripped and began to groan in pain. Nate and Charles seemed to be eyeing each other, though Abbie wasn’t sure if it was out of trust or if it was an attempt at sizing the other up. Kayla and Emily were once again with each other, with Kayla creating tears in her eyes, while Emily seemed to be stone-faced, as if she were having a flashback. Bailey was busy picking at his fingernails, which Abbie could only assume was his nervous tick. Abbie looked to Erica expected a bored and disdainful appearance, but instead was met with Erica’s wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression. Abbie then looked to the two sitting closest to her, to find Lexi was looking more annoyed than anything. Perhaps she was anxious to go see the rest of the school? And as for Peter, he seemed to be simply twiddling his thumbs with an otherwise calm expression. _Man, I cannot read that guy for the life of me_.

It seemed that for the sixteen students who were now trapped in the University of Monosota, that the story of their unfortunate experience was only just beginning. No one, least of all Abbie had any idea of what was going on…

Or was there someone who maybe knew more than they let on?

Regardless, the idea of mutual killing, or rather, Monobear’s Semester of Murderous Studies was about to begin.

 

* * *

 

Students Alive:

  * Joseph Elgon- Ultimate Mountaineer
  * Alexandra ‘Lexi’ Stecksen- Ultimate Dancer
  * Charles Kowalsky- Ultimate Counterfeiter
  * Logan Melvearl- Ultimate Sailor
  * Bailey Holst- Ultimate Band Geek
  * Maria Chevette- Ultimate Horse Whisperer
  * Kayla Van Mullen- Ultimate Actress
  * Nate Doorhurst- Ultimate Marksman
  * Erica Gilman- Ultimate Writer
  * Hans Glass- Ultimate ???
  * Abbie Wallace- Ultimate Botanist
  * Ian Granger- Ultimate Swordsman
  * Ellie Servendy- Ultimate Lucky Student
  * Kristen Kaspartack- Ultimate Director
  * Emily Frye- Ultimate Soldier
  * Peter Coltdev- Ultimate Mathematician



 

* * *

 

**PROLOGUE: Beginnings are Always the Most Strange**

**END**

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last part that I've already written in full, and unfortunately updates might take a while from here on out. I like being wordy, I'm aware, but I promise you that the write up time will be worth the wait. I'll be sure to upload various character profiles I've pre-written while we wait for Chapter 1 to begin.
> 
> If anyone has any predictions, or preferences for Free Time Events, I'd love to hear them. As of right now, I've got the Chapter 1 slots all filled, but I'll gladly take votes for any future events.


	4. Meet the Cast! - Character Reference Sheet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the initial place where I posted the first few parts of the prologue, I had posted these before the cast began to largely interact. So therefore I will now be posting them here. You're welcome to refer to this if you need a reference for character. Each entry describes the character's appearance, their personality and describing their talent. Characters are arranged in color aesthetic order, so our protagonist is not at the top of the page. I'm not sorry. Holistically, this is being posted after the first part of Chapter 1 has been uploaded, but is placed here for references and whatnot.  
> This totally isn't a way to grab your attention while I write :^]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how there's the thing in the canon games where all the casts' silhouettes are all lined up? Consider their order in that to be the order that they're presented here.

 

**Joseph Elgon - Ultimate Mountaineer - Brown**

  * Height: 180cm
  * Weight: 71kg



Joseph is a taller male, but shorter than Ian and Charles. Born in Nairobi Kenya, Joseph sports a white knit cap that fails to control his dark curly hair. His eyes are constantly protected by a pair of goggles that have a pale blue tint, which make his eyes appear that color as well. In addition to the headgear, Joseph also sports a dark brown jacket whilst carrying a duffel backpack. He also wears a black pair of snow pants which come in layers given certain weather conditions. He also wears a few bangles on his arms and a carabiner on his waist.

Joseph is the stoic type more or less. He seems to be waiting to drop a zinger at almost any given moment, but won’t try to make a fool of himself otherwise. He and other consider himself to be a very rational and levelheaded individual, and he always knows how to act in a crisis. He doesn’t outright seek the approval of his peers, but enjoys their company nonetheless, and doesn’t want to bring down group morale.

Joseph has always had an affinity for climbing things. From an early age, he was enthralled by large mounds of dirt and would try to run to the very top of them. His love for mountains reached a peak when he summited Mt. Kilimanjaro by himself when he was ten years old. Since then he’s traveled the world in attempts to climb other peaks like Denali and Mt. Everest.

 

* * *

 

**Alexandra ‘Lexi’ Stecksen - Ultimate Dancer - Crimson**

  * Height: 163cm
  * Weight: 56kg



Lexi is a shorter girl than most of the cast, but she’s not a loli or anything you creeps. She wears her chocolate colored hair down so that it flows along her tanned skin. Her face is rather dolled up compared to others, and she wears deep crimson lipstick to match her eyes. She wears a black leather jacket over a crimson blouse that shows off a bit of her lacy bra as well as her toned midriff. She also wears a red plaid skirt, thigh high white socks and a set of red converse shoes. (In a way, she looks slightly like Junko)

Lexi is a hothead and she frequently swears, not caring about how others might take it. The swearing just so happens to be in her everyday lexicon and those words to her are just like any other words to anyone else. She also can be very sarcastic and dry, but in a very obvious way. She doesn’t really take shit from anyone, but also doesn’t really know how to react if people are able to brush off her punky personality. For some reason, many would consider her abrasiveness one of her defining and most attractive personalities.

Lexi is a masterful dancer, which gave her the title of Ultimate Dancer. She is able to complete amazingly complex dance routines, some that not even the best dancers can seem to remember. Her attention to detail with regards to actions and movements is a sight to see, since it’s almost as if for her time seems to slow down. She’s also a very athletic individual and can easily find a rhythm and move to it. In general, she can easily watch a dance once and perform it flawlessly.

 

* * *

 

**Charles Kowalsky - Ultimate Counterfeiter - Red**

  * Height: 189cm
  * Weight: 77kg



Charles is a very tall and lanky fellow with jet black hair styled upwards and dark red eyes. He also has a bit of dark black stubble on his chin, defining his chin a bit more than others. Given his height and otherwise defined appearance, he can be seen as quite intimidating or condescending. He wears a puffy, sleeveless, forest green overcoat over a red and blue striped flannel shirt, and khaki pants with brown penny loafers. Think All-American Bro style.

Charles is very upfront about his opinions and will likely shoot down ideas that don’t align with his. That said, if he agrees with someone’s idea, he’ll be a bleeding heart supporter until he’s proven wrong definitively. Some might call him self-centered, but that wouldn’t be really that true, rather he’s more focused on his own goals rather than the goals of the group. Perhaps he’s a bit cocky sometimes, but he knows the right thing to say at the right time too. Oh, and he really likes beer.

His talent, the Ultimate Counterfeiter has gotten him many places in life, both good and bad. He’s been able to forge signatures from a very young age, and despite his outward lanky and athletic appearance, he’s quite skilled with his hands. He is skilled in various trades from machining and welding, to sewing and handwriting.

 

* * *

 

**Logan Melvearl  - Ultimate Sailor - Burnt Orange**

  * Height: 175cm
  * Weight: 75kg



Logan is a stocky fellow with a head of curly brown hair (basically a jewfro) that has seen countless days at sea, and has been exposed to wind and water. His face is very round and he has dark brown eyes that accentuate the roundness of his features. He wears a simple costume, a burnt orange sleeveless jacket that resembles a lifevest, and peachy board shorts with pink flip flops.

Logan is very blunt individual who simply says what is on his mind, without the regard for anyone else. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, and so he doesn’t always think before he speaks. This might offend some people, but at the same time, once people realize that’s just his way of doing things, they come around to him. He’s a social guy and has no trouble making friends, which compliments his dynamic personality and obstinate opinions. Some might call him an attention whore due to his loud voice at times. Needless to say, he enjoys being the center of attention if only so he can make more friends. If someone tries to steal his spotlight though, then they’ll likely get the cold shoulder.

Logan’s sailing experience is quite impressive. He has sailed solo across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific seas all by the age of seventeen. However, he eventually realized that his efforts might be cut short early due to a large storm on is final journey. Since then he has become involved in teaching new recruits how to sail and handle rough waves.

 

* * *

 

**Bailey Holst - Ultimate Band Geek - Orange**

  * Height: 169cm
  * Weight: 59kg



Bailey is a boy of middle height, and is quite muscular given the fact that he carries heavy large instruments on a regular basis. His shorter tan tan hair is shaved on the sides of his head, leaving a tiny tuft of hair on the top of his head, which compliments his vivid green eyes that lie behind his glasses. He has a significant amount of stubble, but not enough for it to be a beard. He wears an orange and white marching jacket with white skin tight pants, showing off his strong legs and black marching boots.

Bailey is a motormouth and has often a lot on his mind at once. Perhaps he lacks a filter, but sometimes he’ll find his foot in his mouth. He’s very easily persuaded, and will often change his mind on the flip of a dime. It’s plain to see that Bailey doesn’t mind letting other people do the work for him if he can reap some of the rewards. That said, Bailey has impeccable attention to detail and has very powerful hearing which can be used to the group’s advantage. 

Bailey has been known to conduct various marching bands and musical groups from a very young age. He started a band at age 10 and said band was eventually booked on a cross-country tour, with Bailey on bass. By high school, Bailey was able to lead his school’s marching band to victories at National Marching Band competitions, earning him a spot as an Ultimate. It’s also noted that even in daily life, Bailey seems to move to his own internal rhythm.

 

* * *

 

**Maria Chevette - Ultimate Horse Whisperer - Yellow**

  * Height: 162cm
  * Weight: 62kg



Maria is the average height for a girl, but her proportions are slightly off. She has long flowing blonde hair under a cap that reaches her waist and neon blue eyes that capture a gaze… or maybe it’s her chest. Maria wears a beige T-shirt that’s tied off on the side to show off her midriff, while also emphasizing her comically large breasts. She also wears dark green work pants spotted with mud and simple leather cowgirl boots. In addition, she also wears various arms bands and bracelets on both or her arms one of which has a small moon charm.

Maria ditzy. It’s hard to really put it any other way. That being said, she’s lots of fun and very eccentric. Of course, she isn’t afraid to ask questions that might be obvious to everyone else, and will sometimes act almost childlike. In addition, she’s very warm and sunny to most people, but she’s very passive aggressive and standoffish towards people whom she dislikes. She also asks people for food on a regular basis, but most people aren’t sure why.

Maria has risen to fame of the Horse Racing and breeding world at a quick rate. She spent most of her upbringing raising and racing horses, and her success quickly blossomed into copious amounts of cash which she used to buy a ranch for her passion. She also innovated the way horse care took place, and has modeled with her stallions before, garnering her the nickname Fan Favorite Game Changer Maria May Chevette.

 

* * *

 

**Kayla Van Mullen - Ultimate Actress - Lime Green**

  * Height: 168cm
  * Weight: 63kg



Kayla is a taller than average girl with a slightly curvy figure. Think Kaede’s figure if you want an accurate description. She has slightly long burgundy hair that sweeps just past her shoulders and white scarf, bringing out her dark purple eyes. She wears a bright green cardigan over a maroon tank top that is strained around the chest area. She also sports a gray knee length skirt, and bright green tights with simple white flats.

Kayla is an effeminate girl, but that doesn’t stop her from taking various risks with people. She isn’t afraid to work hard for something and whatnot. She enjoys being in the spotlight and enjoys people watching her, if only because it allows her to practice her talent, but she is also willing to share the spotlight if needed.. She has the skill of being able to pull of many different accurate impersonations, both with physical movements and people’s voices, which helps her acting skills significantly. With acting skills comes the ability to bullshit and weave through lies, which can make her a valuable asset, or a dangerous enemy.

Kayla has always been in the spotlight. From a young age she was constantly netting leads in shows in her home town. Eventually she got the idea to ditch school, catch a bus to a city half a day away just for an audition. When she got the spot she called her parents about it, and somehow managed to find a way to survive. Since then she’s been able to net almost any role she wants, either a lead or an extra.

 

* * *

 

**Nate Doorhurst - Ultimate Marksman - Forest Green**

  * Height: 183cm
  * Weight: 65kg



Nate is a taller male than most, with an above average height. He has long crinkly sandy blonde hair that has various twigs and leaves in it as well as a few black camo marks on his face with a long scar on his left cheek and glasses over his obsidian eyes. He wears a dark green camouflage pullover hoodie with dark brown jeans and dark boots. He also sports a scarf that he wears over his face when preparing to shoot.

Nate is a bit enigmatic. Depending on his position he can be a tall, almost gothic looking male if he’s wearing his scarf, or a kind friendly pal kind of character. When he is concentrated on an object he becomes very intense and aware of his surroundings, but sometimes gets tunnel vision as a result. As such, he’s not easily swayed or distracted from his goals. The character is also very “to-the-point” with how he talks, but takes a moment to carefully select his words when needed. His determination is very important to his character, but that won’t stop him from taking short breaks from the intensity to spend time with his compatriots.

Nate has a strong ability to fire various projectile based weaponry. He prefers guns, but isn’t a stranger to using archaic weapons as well. However, he dislikes firing arrows as he once misfired one and get a large scar as a result. His accuracy is top notch and has won several competitions in target shooting, skeet and other various projectile based sports.

 

* * *

 

**Erica Gilman - Ultimate Writer - Teal**

  * Height: 154cm
  * Weight: 45kg



Erica's body type is what some people would consider a loli, though she doesn’t have the cutest appearance on the planet. She has shoulder length frizzy hair that has been bleached blonde, but has visible dark roots. In addition she has a very serious visage with teal eyes, which makes her seem far less approachable than she might actually be. She wears a teal buckle-down hoodie that’s a bit too big for her, just enough that the sleeves reach past her hands. Underneath the hoodie is a dark maroon shirt and for pants she wears black leggings, and torn up teal converse.

Erica is the type of person whom most people would expect to be very anti-social and unfriendly. They would be somewhat correct as Erica is unfortunately not the best at making friends. She’s not edgy, but she’s a still much more serious than her height suggests. However, Erica really likes seeing people be motivated and have a drive in them to the point where she will go a little over the top sometimes. For example, if there were to be a flaw in logic, she’s more than happy to encourage people to work to find the contradiction. She’s very self-conscious too, but only shows it to people she trusts. 

Erica writes a lot. She’s been published multiple times and she’s even done an authorial exchange with a famous Japanese author of a similar status. She’s been picked up by various publishers and quite a few of her novels have become successful films too. In addition, her poetry is very strong and she’s been known to make regular wins at national poetry competitions.

 

* * *

 

**Hans Glass - Ultimate ??? - Navy Blue**

  * Height: 171cm
  * Weight: 56kg



Hans is a somewhat tall, but quite skinny, male with dark slightly curly hair and dark blue eyes. Underneath his eyes show slight bags, perhaps from his lack of sleep. He wears a dark blue and black striped sweater with a white collared shirt and slightly lighter blue tie underneath. He wears khaki slacks and soft brown slip-ons that are a stark difference to the darker blue colors, which create an interesting light and dark contrast.

Hans is a reserved and quiet boy, and only really chimes in when asked. When he does engage in conversation, he speaks with a stutter but also with a level of intelligence. Unsure of himself, he’ll propose theories that often end up being correct. However his shrinking violet personality often causes his points to be overlooked.

He’s a smart one to be sure, but he refuses to tell people what his Ultimate Talent is. This may be in part because he doesn’t know it himself, or perhaps he wants to keep his skill a secret. Perhaps he should communicate things better since most of the time, his deductions tend to be correct.

 

* * *

 

**Abbie Wallace - Ultimate Botanist - Dark Purple**

  * Height: 176cm
  * Weight: 57kg



Our Protagonist is a girl of middle height, with a build much like that of a runner. She has dark purple hair kept by white hair ties in short twintails that look like long sprigs of purple grass that reach just past her shoulders, as well as an uncooperative few strands of hair that stick up on the top of her head. On her face is a constant smear of dirt on her right jaw and her eyes are a deep purple tone. She wears a long-sleeved purple shirt with the sleeves rolled up, that exposes her collarbones as well as the straps of her gold and grey sports bra. In addition, she wears black and gold short shorts and purple running shoes. Also on her legs are constant smears of dirt, and she has a tattoo of a compass rose on her left thigh.

Abbie is a tomboy, plain and simple. She’s likely one of the few girls who'll likely try to outbox or speak up against the other male characters without feeling at all strange. She sees herself as an equal with most people and feels that everyone should have a  right to express opinions, but she’s also quick to point out a flaw or an inconsistency. In general, she’s a quick witted girl, but she’s also very cool about things. When she does get flustered, it’s usually kept inside her head, and not revealed to the rest of the group... most of the time. If egged on she can get very angry very quickly. Furthermore, she’s not easily discouraged, and quite strong in her convictions.

Despite outward appearances, Abbie is the Ultimate Botanist. She enjoys working with plants and exploring the world to study botany. While travelling the world, Abbie came a across a new species of fern, and was recognized as one of the greatest modern minds of her generation for her studies on the plant. However, Abbie doesn’t really consider her discovery much of a feat and is strangely humble about the whole situation.

 

* * *

 

**Ian Granger - Ultimate Swordsman - Purple**

  * Height: 199cm
  * Weight: 88kg



Ian is the definition of a bara character. He’s a very tall, very muscular individual with curly brown hair tied into a top knot when sparring. When not swordfighting, his hair reaches slightly past his shoulders occasionally obscuring his his thinly rimmed glasses that guard his dark green eyes. He wears a lavender colors dress shirt and a bright white tie with sleek black pants and tennis shoes which are slightly out of place on his outfit. On his back he carries two sword hilts that carry a broadsword and katana respectively. 

Ian is a bit of a strange case. He’s a boy of very few words, unless he’s on a subject that matters to him. Often times he tries to hide a lisp which sometimes shines through, which is why he speaks very little. He only resorts to fighting when the other outlets have been exhausted, and generally will try to calm any major arguments before they arise. However, he fails occasionally in this aspect due to his slight lack of social awareness.

Ian’s sword fighting skills are very strong. Despite his size, he is very agile and quick on his feet. When he was younger he traveled to Japan to train with a girl involved with the Japanese mafia, which allowed him to get skilled with lighter swords. He’s also very ambidextrous, which allows him to effectively have two different styles of fighting on command. And no, he hasn’t cut a speeding bullet with a katana. No one can. It’s physically impossible.

 

* * *

 

**Ellie Servendy - Ultimate Lucky Student - Pink**

  * Height: 165cm
  * Weight: 54kg



Ellie is a plainly average girl of average height. She has long auburn usually worn in a braid that reaches the middle of her back, as well as bright pink eyes. In addition, she has a small beauty mark underneath her lip on the right side of her face. She wears a strange hot pink zipdown hoodie with white marks lining various cuffs and seams, and the strings are ended by two white pom-poms. The hoodie is slightly zipped open and underneath she wears and white shirt with a pink japanese character for luck. She also wears a short pink skirt and thigh high socks that have three pink stripes at the top of them, as well as pink galoshes.

Ellie is the type of girl you’d meet who you’d immediately become friends with… unless you were some kind of degenerate. She likes being around people and she finds that the happier people are, the better she reacts to things. She’s the type to regularly try to raise the morale in the group, suggesting group activities and whatnot. She’s not a huge ditz or anything, but she usually relies on her luck to come to certain conclusions, however, she has been known to have a jealous side from time to time.

Ellie’s luck is a strange case. She’s won countless lotteries, won various TV Game shows, and has passed various exams all by her luck. Some would call her a human four leaved clover since being around her seems to bring general luck and welfare. Ellie herself uses her talent to get out of tricky situations as well. If something is out of control or if she’s in danger, she usually jsut brushes it off as her luck usually takes care of things for her. Worst case scenario, her luck will bail her out.

 

* * *

 

**Kristen Kaspartack - Ultimate Director - Pale Pink**

  * Height: 180cm
  * Weight: 68kg



Kristen is the tallest girl in the group, and the most mature and elegant looking girl as well. She’s very slender and has long strawberry-blonde hair that dips just about her waist and it has a dainty little bow tied into it near the top of her head. In addition, she has a rather smooth face with a few freckles here and there and pale orange eyes. She wears a pale pink peacoat with large black buttons on either side, the top two opened just a bit to show off a black blouse. She also wears bleached white jeans with a few splotches of blue no them, and simple white slip on shoes.

Kristen is a very mature girl, and she’s very versed and intelligent. While some girls scream girly or funny or whatever, Kristen is far more womanly and strong. She is very sensible and her thoughts make sense, but often times she has issues explaining them on the first time. Sometimes she’ll say the idea she has swirling i her head that’ll make sense to her, but will come out wrong.  She’s also very good at the powers of persuasion as she’s able to command people into doing what she sees fit for a given project.

Being the Ultimate Director, Kristen is very people oriented and she’s able to convince other to do things her way. She has directed countless box office breaking movies and has risen to the quality of director like that of Hitchcock, Kubrick and Coppola. He ability to take an idea, put it to screen and make countless dollars off of her vision has given her the prospect of Ultimate Director.

 

* * *

 

**Emily Frye - Ultimate Soldier - White**

  * Height: 171cm
  * Weight: 68kg



Emily is stockier, but muscular girl of middle height. She wears her silvery hair in a ponytail that pops out behind her army-esque hat. She also has her visage clear and has weird piercingly bright gray eyes. When not wearing her hat, Emily lets her hair down to hang slightly above her shoulders. She wears military fatigues that are grey that’s littered with little black squares and on her left breast are various medals and pins. She also wears spiked combat boots. That’s pretty cool.

Emily Frye is not what you’d expect upon first glance. You’d expect her to be a tough as nails combat officer or whatever, but her personality couldn’t be more different. Emily is an adorably fun girl who enjoys cutesy things. She’s able to constantly bring about some sort of positivity and she has a gigglesnort. Seriously. However, she’s not a pushover either since when things require seriousness, it’s as if a lightswitch gets hit and she changes her demeanor like that. Some people might find her shifts a bit creepy, but it’s all depending on the situation at hand. She’s obviously very aware of her presences in a given space.

Given her talent, Emily is able to constantly survey the area to find optimal places for camp out or create as a bunker. In addition, she’s very skilled in combat and is able to utilize various arms. The ability to rise through the rankings of the army upon entrance has earned her the title of Ultimate Soldier. She doesn’t like to tout the title, but she knows it to be true since she’s been able to get her platoon of many unfortunate situations in combat.

 

* * *

 

**Peter Coltdev - Ultimate Mathematician - Gray**

  * Height: 177cm
  * Weight: 71kg



Peter is approximately the mean height for a male his age (not a manlet lmao), but a bit more muscular than average. He wears his messy sandy gray-blonde hair spiked up, but swept to the right, as if his bangs were a mathematical function. He also has gray-blue eyes which seem colorful given the rest of his appearance. He wears an unzipped gray winter jacket powdered with chalk dust, over a black shirt with a white cubic design, and black athletic shorts.

Peter is a constantly grinning character despite his otherwise overcast gray appearance. Some aren’t really sure what to make of him when he mutters to himself and giggles a bit. In addition he has a bad habit of tuning people out when he’s thinking, but also is able to pick up on things that people would expect him to hear, thinking he’s ignoring them. He uses this skill often to mess with people for his own amusement.

Being the ultimate Mathematician, Peter is able to make many calculated thoughts in his head and will likely go on solving a solution long before anyone else has. Because he is very intuitive and analytical, he has been able to write and devise various proofs and has already written many published papers on mathematics, specifically about ideas in number theory, topology and calculus.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've begun writing the second part of Chapter 1, so expect that within the next week or so. Free time event slots are filled but I'll always be taking suggestions of people you want to see more of.


	5. Chapter 1: Run Along Children, The Worst is Yet to Come - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the first chapter. I hope you like learning about people through subtle details! One reminder, words in italics are thoughts from our protagonist, Abbie Wallace. Enjoy as she goes all over the place on the first day!
> 
> Once again, I apologize for all the shitty memes I've meticulously placed in here.

**Chapter 1**

Run Along Children, the Worst is Yet to Come

 

* * *

 

_"You've got to give up,_

_You've got to give up;_

_But don't let it worry you,_

_The worst is yet to come!_ " - Bert Grant

 

* * *

 

 

 

_My name is Abbie Wallace._

_I’m a college student, but I don’t remember where I attend._

_I like plants._

_I wouldn’t consider myself ordinary, but I also don’t think I’m someone with a huge amount of value._

_I’m me. I must be me._

 

The gymnasium was eerily silent aside from the whirring sounds of the lowering pedestal. The black and white stuffed bear had vanished into air, but his words seemed to hang, and yet the silence persisted. The words rang in Abbie’s ears. Like nails on a chalkboard or a fork scraping against a ceramic plate, the ungodly noise resonated through Abbie. She shuddered and stared at the now descending podium.

_“And, yeah! That’s about it! Now go move into your dorms and do some stupid icebreakers or something! What the hell do people even do when they’ve never met anyone else before? Jeez, I’m glad that I’m not in charge of the orientation committee.”_

They weren’t the words she expecting to remember, she expected more of the whole killing thing. But the ominous tones were not a sound she enjoyed hearing nonetheless. She figured that they’d likely slowly get to her, like an infection of the brain. The words would start as a low and slow clap, but eventually roar into a smashing hammer sound that she would be unable to escape. And for what? A killing game? Was she really that afraid of some bear’s impending rules? _We can’t let the bear normalize whatever the hell is going to happen. If that happens we lose._ Resisting came to mind, but then the memory of Maria getting shocked also came into view. Maybe beating the tar out of Monobear wasn’t exactly the best idea. 

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…” A frightened voice broke the silence. The mysterious Ultimate looked around at everyone and then collapsed to the floor, slightly rocking in his spot. The remaining students turned to Hans and as they did, the also looked at each other with an aura of suspicion.

“So what, is this some kind of Hunger Games shit?” asked a fearfully defiant Lexi.

“I think it might be more akin to _Battle Royale,_ but then again, the latter was based on the former, so your assessment makes sense too.”  Lexi turned to the intelligent director, confused. “They’re like essentially the same plot more or less. As a director I have to be pretty well read…” Kristen stopped shortly afterwards. “Come on everyone… I’m just trying to, well… lighten the mood?” Abbie saw Logan sigh while still holding his leg from the earlier injury. The other also looked at Kristen was a sense of depression. 

“Kristen’s right” started the Ultimate Counterfeiter, “we can’t just let this piece of shit stuffed bear tell us what to do. We’re going to live here together, and not let that fucker get to us, got it?” Abbie turned to Peter who stood next to her. He was intent on meeting Charles’ gaze it seemed, but he too was observing the room. Abbie then turned to her left and saw Erica chewing one of her nails, clearly not as sure as the boy speaking. “Now, I know we don’t really have a leader, or rather, we haven’t elected one, but let me just say that I think it’s best if we don’t worry about this killing game stuff and go explore the campus.” 

“Maybe there’s a way out.” added Nate, who seemed eager to get moving. “You know, we could like, maybe try to find an exit.”

Charles seemed to have the perfect timing since he began once again. “Plus, like it’s not like we could even kill anyone here without the other fifteen knowing, so I say we don’t have anything to worry about.” _He has a point_ . Charles effortlessly seemed to command attention and Abbie realized that given his height, and otherwise reasonable logic, that she would more or less be ok with the guy leading the group. _Let’s hope that he doesn’t turn out to be something shitty… And also, holy crap, he really did go there with bringing up the whole killing part again_. Abbie once again found herself resenting the idea that it was expected of the students to kill each other, but then again, Charles had a point.

“Plus like, maybe after we explore everywhere we can go meet up before bed in the cafeteria or something.” added Abbie. She hadn’t contributed much to the conversation, but she figured she wasn’t going to be branded as the weird girl who didn’t talk, so speaking up seemed like the natural approach. “How about, y’know, splitting off into groups for investigation’s sake?” The crowd seemed a bit more held back at this suggestion. Some of the students must’ve not been as keen as Abbie on splitting off into smaller, easily killed, groups.

“She brings up a good point, hell, she and I can team up.” Charles seemed to have a smug confidence about him which wasn’t exactly the most calming thing Abbie had felt when meeting someone new. Weird vibes were never a good thing.

“Well if those two are splitting into groups of a guy and a girl, why don’t we all do the same?” proposed Ellie. “You know, for fun and stuff!” The collective seemed to nod in somewhat of a unison, and slowly everyone went and paired off. Abbie approached Charles near the front of the room and looked around at the rst of the groups that were forming slowly. Abbie watched as males and females who were standing close by turned to face each other.

“You want to partner up?”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Would you mind being my partner?”

“No, not at all. Er, I mean I don’t mind being your partner.”

There were seven simultaneous conversations that all said the same thing in slightly different words. The groups formed quicker than Abbie anticipated. Lexi with Nate, Ellie with Joseph, Kayla with Bailey, Kristen with Ian, Emily with Logan, and finally Erica with Peter. Abbie turned to see that the only two without partners happened to be the boy still a bit in shock of everything,and the girl who had been shocked herself.

“Wait what? Does this mean I’m stuck with that weirdo Hans?”

Hans grimaced. _And here I thought he couldn’t get any more pale than he already is_. 

“Yes, Maria, you and Hans are partners for now” said Nate in an almost exasperated tone.

“Well then, now that we’re in groups, let’s meet back in the cafeteria in,” Charles hesitated, “what, four hours? Then we can all go to the cafeteria and talk about what we’ve found.” Charles didn’t need to snap his finger or anything, as most of the groups set out almost immediately, some quicker than others. Abbie and Charles hung back for a second to watch the rest of the people exit.

“Alright Annie”

“Abbie”

“Right, Abbie, you ready?”

“I mean, the sooner we get out of this gym, the further away we’ll be from that stupid bear, so yeah, let’s get a move on.”

The two exited the room and found themselves in the main square hallway. Abbie and Charles were immediately stopped by another pair, Maria and Hans staring up and something. The two followed the gazes of the horse whisperer and fidgety boy to see a large red and black digital clock above the doors of the Main Hall.  

“Was that clock there before, Hans?” 

“I-I, uh, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, ‘I-I d-d-don’t know?’” asked Maria, mimicking Hans’ stutter 

“I d-didn’t, uh, s-see it when I came in, th-that’s what I mean by ‘I don’t know’.” Hans’ response seemed out of character from what Abbie and Charles had seen of his thus far, but they kept listening. “I-It’s not l-like it’s some, er, giant golden clock th-that l-looks like the sun or, uh, s-something. It, uh, well, it doesn’t scream ‘justice’ or a-anything like that. It’s j-just a black screen with uh, red numbers.”

“Jeez… it was just a question.” Maria was taken aback by Hans’ response. With a grin, she shoved the scraggly boy and giggled. “You’re not a total pushover after all!” 

“Hey guys, take it easy will ya? It’s only the first day” suggested Charles, clearly annoyed that he had to play big bad dad. Abbie felt no need to comment on the utterly pointless argument that was unfolding in front of her. “Maria, what matters is that there’s a clock there now, not whether or not it was there before.”

Charles and Abbie walked away from the arguing Ultimates. Abbie felt uncertain that the two would be able to cooperate but she figured they wouldn’t be insane enough to kill each other. Maria was too ditzy to really do anything with her bare hands, even if she did appear slightly muscular. Hans wasn’t strong enough to hurt a girl either, she assumed. She continued to think about things rationally as the two of them opened the doors to the main hall.

The Main Hall was about as interesting as the room that it opened into. The tiled floors looked clean and shiny white, while walls were entirely clean, from the ceiling hung two very ominous black and white banners depicting Monobear. _Can you even call this a “Main Hall”? It’s literally just the entrance of the school._ Abbie was right. The only thing remarkable about the “Main Hall” happened to be the doors in front of them, and the fact that said doors appeared to be held shut by some sort melted metal. After a few hard kicks, Abbie saw just how hard the doors were held shut. 

“Hold up, let me take a look at these doors.” Charles sauntered his way over to the doors, and inspected the metal. “Yeah… ok... “ He stood up “These doors are welded shut. And pretty well too. That’s some good craftwork… it’s perfect actually.” 

“You’re sure?”

“Well yeah, I mean, I make fakes for a living. I know when something is done wrong.” Abbie shook her head and sighed. _I guess he’s an expert in that kind of stuff. But how the heck are all the doors like this? Who took the time to weld all these doors shut? … And what’s even behind these doors?_ Charles cupped his ear to the doors, and then waited. “Nothing.... Man, these doors must be pretty thick.”

“Is there anything else in here that really catches your eyes?”

“No, not really Abbie, if anything, this is probably the least relevant room in this school, and I’m sure I’ll probably forget about it before long.”

“Yeah… me too.” 

The two of the students left the area and returned to the central square hall. As they made their way over to the spiral staircase, Abbie couldn’t help be get a slight shiver down her spine. She wondered what could be outside in the overcast weather. She didn’t much time on the thought before arriving at the stairs. The grandiose, red-carpeted double helixed stairs seemed normal upon first glance, but Charles pointed out something interesting.

“Looks like the stairs that go up, don’t actually go anywhere.”

Charles was right. It was weird, but Abbie saw a giant metallic barrier that seemed to close up the gap that would otherwise allow the students to access the second floor. “Why do you think that’s there? To keep us out of the second floor?” Abbie inquired. 

“Yeah, seems like it. But at least we can go downstairs… and these go pretty far down from the looks of it.” Charles motioned to the gap between the two sets of stairs. From abbie’s perspective, it seemed as if you could drop a rock down the middle and not have anything it it until it hit the bottom. If only Abbie had a tiny pebble or some water to throw down there like she used to when she was younger.

“You done peering down there?”

Abbie had checked out and become enthralled with the gap.

 "Yeah, sorry, let’s go downstairs.”

The stairs spiraled upon themselves half a turn before Abbie and Charles reached the first floor below. It was darker than the room above, partially due to the lack of windows, but also due to the fact that the floor now had blue and black tiles. The smooth tiles crept along the floor until they reached a grayish wall, that seemed to reflect that overall demeanor from outdoors. There were strange, half-vase lamps that shot upwards providing extra light to the hallways. It was a strange setup, Abbie thought to herself. Perhaps needlessly complicated. There was a sign above the final step that said in bright bold lettering “Dormitory floor” and had a boy blue arrow pointing left and a pink arrow pointing right.

“Looks like this is where we sleep.” pointed out Charles. “Wanna split up for a bit so we can find our rooms?” The thought of splitting up seeme like a bad idea to Abbie at first, but then again, it would give them more time to eventually explore the rest of the area. 

“I mean, I guess it can’t hurt… but we have to meet right back here and stuff. I don’t want anyone trying to do anything stupid, you know?”

“Well yeah, it’s not like I’d kill anyone or anything. I just said what I said in the gym to get people moving.”

 _Fake words, personality, motivations… He really is good at making frauds out of anything. Ultimate Fakermaker for a reason._  

The two of them exchanged strong glances, and then went their respective directions. Abbie turned to her left, followed the circular space, and found herself walking down a long rectangular hallway. She say near the end of the hallways looked to be a bathroom. _I’ll check that out later_. She walked past the first two set of doors on either side of her, Emily’s and Kayla’s apparently as she judged by the nameplate and the tiny pixelated cartoon caricature in each’s likeness.  

Abbie continued down the hallways until she found her own door, the last one on the right.  She tried turning the knob, but was met with a harsh resistance. The door was obviously locked. “Well dang, now what?” Then she got an idea. It wasn’t the greatest idea, but it was an idea nonetheless. “I can’t believe this… Hey Monobear? How do I open my door?” 

“Ask and ye shall receive!” The bear sprung seeming out of nowhere with a cackle. _Well at least he comes when he’s been called_. “So, you can’t get into your own room? Gee man, that really sucks.”

“I was hoping you could explain how I unlock this door, maybe?”

“Oh clumsy me,” said the break, a pink blush tag appearing on his face. “I never gave any of you nerds your keys. Welp, Here ya go!” The bear thrust a simple silver key attached to a key ring into Abbie’s palm and then paused. Abbie turned and looked down at the bear with a quizzical glance, unsure as to why she wasn’t able to get the key earlier Shaking her head at the bear, she inserted the key into the knob, and turned both. The door opened slowly and Abbie expected Monobear to just disappear… _Why is he following me into my room?_

The room was a simple and plain room, if not a bit better than Abbie was expecting. It was rather spacious, larger than the average dormitory. It had your typical dormitory pieces too. The door entered upon the middle of the room, leaving the room almost split into two halves. ON the right half against the far wall sat a modest bed with dark purple covers and few simple pillows. Moving across the room to the left, there was a tiny barred window near the ceiling of the room that would allow for some sunlight in the room, but wouldn’t be big enough for anyone to escape from if prompted. _Clearly a design hazard… and you can’t even grow succulents here. That’s pretty dumb._ Continuing to the left end of the room there was a reasonably sized desk along with a few empty bookshelves. But what was the point in having one if you weren’t going to study? Abbie stepped into the room slightly to see that there were built in closets into the negative space that the doorway had created. There was also a sprawling rug on the floor which Abbie stared at quizzically.

“It’s so that when you murder someone, it catches the bloodstains!” Abbie jumped at Monobear’s small interruption. _What did he mean by this?_ With a sigh, Abbie turned to the bear.

“I’m not killing anyone you stupid bear.”

The bear turned to show most of his darker side, “You say that now, but we’ll see about that! Maybe if I bait you hard enough you’ll get annoyed enough to get out of my sight. Upupupu… I think that’s the Ultimate Compliment.”

“Yeah, well,” started Abbie in a rather exasperated tone, “I’m not the ‘Ultimate Super Duper College Level Compliment Giver’.” She rolled her eyes at the annoying bear, clearly not phased by the attempts bear to intimidate her.

“Maybe I should just leave you to wallow in this anger and resentment... “ The bear had a stupid grin on his face, and Abbie felt like socking him straight in the face, but held herself back. She knew better than to resort to useless violence. “Oh, and if you’re smart you’ll lock the door, since the doors don’t lock behind you. Uh… what else… oh well! Ariariariarivedecci!” shouted the bear, and then he vanished. 

Abbie was alone in the room. Without the presence of Monobear, she found the room slightly less impending on her, and she took a second look around everything. The room was plain. It wasn’t at all threatening. It was as if it were a completely normal dorm. Sure, there weren’t any posters hanging around or anything, but she felt as if this had been used as a real housing place, and not some chamber to house people who were to kill each other. It was strange how normal it was. 

Abbie made her way to the built in closet on the right, and opened it. Inside she found various clothes that all looked to be exact replicas  of the outfit she was wearing. The drawers had various black and gold short shorts, on the hangers sat various long sleeved purple shirts. Other drawers had short socks and various black thongs. Abbie grew instantly embarrassed at seeing her underwear and thinking of what others would say if they happened to open her drawers and spot them. In the back of the closet there was a message. “If you want your laundry done, do it yourself! There’s a laundry room on the floor below!” Abbie rolled her eyes as she closed the first closet.  

She then crossed the room to the other closet. She opened the closet gingerly to find various sets of night wear. She closed the door to her room, disrobed enough to try on her pajamas, and then proceeded to pick the set closest to her. As she slipped on the slippery smooth and loose fitting wear, she realized the status of the pajamas themselves. She walked herself over the to the full length mirror that sat on the backside of the door to see what it was that she was wearing.  

“Monobear, what the hell?!”

“Jeez, I just leave and now you want me back? Maybe you ARE crazy about me!”

“Shut up.” She said in a huff. “What’s the deal with my pajamas? They’re so… suggestive…”

She was right. Abbie was wearing a silky, purple crop top that barely reached past her chest and a pair of purple shorts that looked to be even shorter than the ones she wore on a daily basis.

“Upupupu, you think you have it bad? Imagine all those wonderfully despair situations for all the kids in the world who don’t even have a bedroom to try on their new fancy pajamas!”

“I can’t sleep in something that might as well be a swimsuit!” 

“Suit yourself! You have to better than the boys though! They don’t even get a top!”

Abbie rolled her eyes. _Of course they don’t_ . She changed back out of her revealing pajamas and assumed her regular clothing. However, when Abbie put on her shorts something felt different, as if there were something in her pocket. Carefully, she inserted her hand into her right pants pocket to discover a strange black and white phone-like device. Its smooth corners and simple monochrome design made the phone appear elegant and precise, but also worrisome due to the eerie similarities to Monobear’s appearance. Abbie pressed the circular only to have the black screen flicker white and display the words “iMono” her name and title. _Clearly that bear is full of himself enough to name knock off tech after himself._ She swiped at the screen to reveal a home menu with four applications.

Tapping the icon that read “Campus Rules” Abbie found a simple, bulleted list of certain specifications Monobear seemed to have mentioned earlier.

 

  * The Cafeteria and Gymnasium close at 10PM which is commonly known as “Night Time” they reopen at 7AM which begins “Day Time"
    * Therefore, Day Time is from 7AM to 10PM
  * There will always be an announcement for the time at Night Time and Day Time
    * All students must sleep in the dorms. If a student is caught sleeping outside a dorm, there will be consequences.
  * It takes three people finding a dead body for there to be a dead body announcement. After this, there will be an immediate 6 hour investigation period followed by an immediate Class Trial.
  * The blackened is defined as the killer of a human being, accidental or not.
  * If the blackened from the game survives a Class Trial, they go free.
  * Should any human die during the game, a Class Trial will be held.
  * Only the guilty party will be punished, no one else.



 

Abbie meticulously read the rules and shuddered knowing that this killing game was meant to be taken seriously. She closed the “Rules” app and then opened another App, a map of the campus that was available to the students. Abbie saw that there appeared to be six floors above ground, three below ground, and that she was on the floor titled BL1 which stood for “Basement Level 1” she assumed. It appeared to hear that there weren’t too many things on this floor outside of the doors, just a trash chute and two closets apparently. She tried to flip upwards to higher floors, but found she could only reach L1. As such, she then proceeded to to find the lower levels, and was greeted with partial layouts of BL2 and BL3. The layouts were partial in that, there were some rooms and hallways that were lit up in a cool lavender color, with names in rooms, while there were other rooms that were simply dark.

Closing out of the map, Abbie opened the third App on the screen titled “Student Profiles”. It was a simple little application that featured a pixelated picture of each student, the ones on everyone’s door. Abbie tapped the one that looked like her and was greeted with an individual picture of herself, along with her measurements, blood type, birthday and… preferences?

 

  * Abbie Wallace
    * Color: Dark Purple
    * Height: 176cm
    * Weight: 57kg
    * Blood Type: AB-
    * Birthday: January 27
    * Likes: [SET UP]
    * Dislikes: [SET UP]
    * Notes: Ultimate Botanist



 

The Likes and Dislike section was flashing the words “SET UP” which drew Abbie’s interest towards them. As she tapped the “Likes/Dislikes” section, a prompt with two empty boxes appeared, as well as a keyboard. _I guess I get to fill in this part? That’s kind of cool I guess… but what do I like and dislike?_ Hesitantly, Abbie typed in “Gardening” into the first box and “Bland Food”. _That’ll work I guess._ After submitting her answers the new profile section read as following:

 

  * Abbie Wallace
    * Dark Purple
    * Height: 176cm
    * Weight: 57kg
    * Blood Type: AB-
    * Birthday: January 27
    * Likes: Gardening
    * Dislikes: Bland Food
    * Notes:Ultimate Botanist



 

She then backed to the rest of the profiles and inspected each of her fellow classmates’ profiles.

  * Hans Glass
    * Navy Blue
    * Height: 171cm
    * Weight: 56kg
    * Blood Type: O+
    * Birthday: May 4
    * Likes: Logic Problems
    * Dislikes: Hail storms
    * Notes:Ultimate ???



_Huh, not even the profile listing knows his talent? What’s up there?_

 

  * Charles Kowalsky
    * Color: Red
    * Height: 189cm
    * Weight: 77kg
    * Blood Type: A-
    * Birthday: March 3
    * Likes: Money
    * Dislikes: Liars
    * Notes:Ultimate Counterfeiter



_Someone who makes a living being fake and he hates liars? How does that work exactly?_

 

  * Peter Coltdev
    * Color: Gray
    * Height: 177cm
    * Weight: 71kg
    * Blood Type: A+
    * Birthday: July 25
    * Likes: Casual Banter
    * Dislikes: Loud Noises
    * Notes:Ultimate Mathematician



_Why doesn’t it shock me the answer “Casual Banter” comes from a guy who seemed to not give a shit about this whole thing?_

 

  * Bailey Holst
    * Color: Orange
    * Height: 169cm
    * Weight: 59kg
    * Blood Type: A+
    * Birthday: March 21
    * Likes: A good tune
    * Dislikes: People with no rhythm
    * Notes:Ultimate Band Geek



_Well that’s super duper specific. Thanks Mr. Ultimate Knock Off Music Person  ._

 

  * Ian Granger
    * Color: Purple
    * Height: 199cm
    * Weight: 88kg
    * Blood Type: AB-
    * Birthday: May 22
    * Likes: Water
    * Dislikes: Coffee
    * Notes:Ultimate Swordsman



_He might not have a ton to say, but at least he gets to the point pretty quickly._

 

  * Logan Melvearl
    * Color: Burnt Orange
    * Height: 175cm
    * Weight: 75kg
    * Blood Type: B+
    * Birthday: October 3
    * Likes: Grapefruits
    * Dislikes: Hornets
    * Notes:Ultimate Sailor



_What does he mean by liking grapefruits…? I should ask him about that later._

 

  * Joseph Elgon
    * Color: Brown
    * Height: 180cm
    * Weight: 71kg
    * Blood Type: O+
    * Birthday: January 17
    * Likes: Chalk Residue
    * Dislikes: Loose ground
    * Notes:Ultimate Mountaineer



_Loose ground, huh? Does that give him some flashbacks of an accident or something?_

 

  * Nate Doorhurst
    * Color: Forest Green
    * Height: 183cm
    * Weight: 65kg
    * Blood Type: AB+
    * Birthday: July 8
    * Likes: Adrenaline
    * Dislikes: Fear
    * Notes:Ultimate Marksman



_Woah, edgy, he dislikes fear._

 

  * Ellie Servendy
    * Color: Pink
    * Height: 165cm
    * Weight: 54kg
    * Blood Type: A-
    * Birthday: February 26
    * Likes: The Color Pink
    * Dislikes: Blood
    * Notes:Ultimate Lucky Student



_Wait, what? She likes the color of blood, but doesn’t like blood itself? Man, talk about a kooky girl._

 

  * Alexandra ‘Lexi’ Stecksen
    * Color: Crimson
    * Height: 163cm
    * Weight: 56kg
    * Blood Type: A+
    * Birthday: June 22
    * Likes: Confidence
    * Dislikes: “Nice Guys”
    * Notes:Ultimate Dancer



_What does she mean by “nice guys”? Wait… shit, I know what she means. Oh god damn it._

 

  * Kayla Van Mullen
    * Color: Lime Green
    * Height: 168cm
    * Weight: 63kg
    * Blood Type: O-
    * Birthday: February 2
    * Likes: Lilacs
    * Dislikes: People with Large Noses
    * Notes:Ultimate Actress



_But how can you appreciate lilacs without a big nose?_

 

  * Emily Frye
    * Color: White
    * Height: 171cm
    * Weight: 68kg
    * Blood Type: A+
    * Birthday: September 18
    * Likes: Rainbows and Sunshine
    * Dislikes: Moodkillers AKA MONOBEAR
    * Notes:Ultimate Soldier



_I can’t imagine Monobear took that response all that well. Does he monitor this?_

 

  * Kristen Kaspartack
    * Color: Pale Pink
    * Height: 180cm
    * Weight: 68kg
    * Blood Type: A-
    * Birthday: August 14
    * Likes: Pinot Noir
    * Dislikes: Disorganized people
    * Notes:Ultimate Director



_Pinot Noir? Really, man I’d rather just crack open a cold one with the boys… or anyone for that matter._

 

  * Abbie Wallace
    * Color: Dark Purple
    * Height: 176cm
    * Weight: 57kg
    * Blood Type: AB-
    * Birthday: January 27
    * Likes: Gardening
    * Dislikes: Bland Food
    * Notes:Ultimate Botanist



_Oh look, it’s me. How exciting._

 

  * Erica Gilman
    * Color: Teal
    * Height: 154cm
    * Weight: 45kg
    * Blood Type: O+
    * Birthday: January 2
    * Likes: The Count of Monte Christo
    * Dislikes: Lack of self-awareness
    * Notes:Ultimate Writer



_I still can’t over the fact that despite her scary intensity, she seems really nice. I want to get to know her more maybe… Also I dig her hair._

 

  * Maria Chevette
    * Height: 162cm
    * Weight: 62kg
    * Blood Type: A+
    * Birthday: November 18
    * Likes: Horse Racing
    * Dislikes: Objectifying Creeps
    * Notes:Ultimate Horse Whisperer



“Pfft… heheh... Horse Whisperer”

 

After looking through all the bios and making various comments about them in her head, Abbie tapped out of the third App and progressed to what seemed to be the fourth and final app preinstalled on the device. However, upon tapping the icon that seemed to be a file with a skull on it, she found that it was unresponsive. Repatedly tapping didn’t seem to solve the problm either, and with a bit of annoyance, Abbie turned off the iMono and pocketed it.

She then took a another quick glance over the room. _I guess this is where I’m living now… No! I can’t just accept this!_ Abbie had a determined look on her face as she thought about everything. She hated this place, but then again, this was her place of safety it seemed like. How paradoxical it was to her, that someplace that she found herself fearing could also be so homely. Still though, unless she killed, was killed or was one of the last two remaining, she’d be here for a while.

Sighing to herself, she opened up her door to find Charles waiting out in front of her room.

“Took you long enough, I was about to knock.”

“Sorry, I was really invested in the layout of my wonderful room” Abbie told the lanky boy in a sarcastic tone.

“Uh… huh…”. He titled his head as he spoke, not sure of how to react. “So my room was pretty red and everything, not sure if that’s a Monobear thing colorcoordinating us or what. Lots of clothes of what I’m already wearing…” _I didn’t even ask about his room and he hes off and going_ “... and a small window that’s too small for me to exit in the event of a fire. You notice those kinds of things.”

“It’s the same in mine.”

“I’ll take your word for it. It’s not that impressive to be honest. Have you checked out the bathrooms yet?” 

“Uh, no? We didn’t have one in our room did we?”

“No, there’s one at the end of the wing on the guys end. I’d imagine the girls have one similar.”

The two looked down the rest of the hallway where they saw what looked to be a metallic door with a stick figurine wearing a dress. _For conventionality's sake, I’m going to assume that means the ladies room_. 

“So the dress means it’s for girls, right?” Charles clearly had a more direct approach with his assumptions.

“I mean, it’s at the end of the ladies’ wing, so I’m gonna assume so. I’ll check it out later.”

“Sounds good to me.” Abbie could tell that Charles clearly wasn’t interested in searching the bathrooms a second time. She figured he probably wanted to get a move on with the investigation of the floor.

Earnestly, and with a bit of forced enthusiasm, Abbie gave a suggestion. “If you want, we can go explore the middle area near the stairs? The map in the iMono said there were a few rooms on the floor.” Charles seemed somewhat pleased by this expressed and nodded in agreement. Abbie turned and locked the purple room behind her and then she and Charles meandered down the hallway until they made it back to the spiral staircase.

Their eyes first found their way to a simple wooden door that seemed to curve into the circular wall. The face was flat, if not almost a bit hairy, though Abbie then noticed that the door had various shards of wood protruding from it. Abbie turned to Charles to gauge his reaction to the tiny, splintery, unimportant door, and her gaze was met with a similar one, albeit gazing downward towards her.

“It’s pretty unimpressive, isn’t it?.”

“Yeah,” responded Abbie, “I’m gonna check it out.”

“Be my guest.” Charles said as he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “Enjoy your splinters.”

Abbie walked up to the door, grabbed the old brass knob and gave it a twist. With a chunking sounds and a few creaks, the unimpressive door opened slowly. Abbie was slightly afraid that the door would fall off its hinges if she were to move too quickly and who knows what Monobear would do in the event that she broke something literally on the first day. The door opened to a dark chamber that was empty. Abbie crouched a bit, took a step into the room and squatted. She was only able to extend her arms a fraction of her normal length where she felt the cool stone walls at her side. Marcel Marceau-ing the tiny cubic room, she found the back wall seemed to perhaps be made of wood, but when she rapped on it, the wood didn’t seem to move at all. But outside of the walls, there was nothing of interest inside the room, not even any dust or cobwebs. _It’s empty…? It’s a little too empty… and too cramped. I’d hate to have claustrophobia and have to be in here._

Abbie exited the room, making sure to not get any splinters. With a another rumble and creak, she closed the door.

“What, you’re not going to let me in there?” asked Charles with an odd sense of disappointment. _Is he annoyed that he doesn’t get to go in there?_

“It’s too cramped even for me, and you’re like, what, 5 inches taller than me?” 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’d, uh, be shocked if anyone bigger than me could get into this space.” 

“And there’s nothing at all?” Charles asked vaguely interested.

“It’s literally just a room… I don’t get it.”  

Abbie shrugged and turned towards the second door in the round area. It was a bit more plain, also wooden though painted white. On the door had painted red letters “PLACE TRASH HERE/TRASH SUPPLIES HERE”. Abbie opened the door to find various empty trashbags ironically littering the floor. _Guess they’re there so when we have to change our own trash we can do it on our own._ There wasn’t much to see in the other room either, it seemed to be more of a dumping area for various trashbags before they inevitably were disposed of. _But where would you even throw them away?_  

Abbie’s internal question was answered when the two walked around the circular clearing to find a large steel plate built into the wall. The two approached it and Charles pulled the large handle at the top to find that the the plate was actually a door.  

“Looks like it’s a garbage chute” 

“Yeah…” responded Abbie. She was about to ask about it further when she saw a small inscription on the inside of the door. “Hey, Charles. Check this out this weird writing.” 

 

“Rules of the Garbage Chute:

  1. Dumping is prohibited without the use of a trashbag.
  2. Incineration takes place once daily at 8 am.”



 

“Well that’s a little specific, don’t you think?” asked Charles with a bit of an inquisitive look. “Let’s see where this thing drops down to.” Abbie nodded, she too wanted to see where the garbage incinerator was, if only so that she didn’t have to panic if she somehow woke up in there without an explanation as to why. _For security._

The two students descended the spiral staircase to a much darker floor. The opening space was darker than above, with the floor and walls being made of dilapidated black tile and splotchy gray cement respectively. The area was far more open compared to the previous floor, with hallways on either side of a room whose door read “Trash Disposal Room”. Abbie had to wonder, _The stairs are a double helix right? But then what’s on the other side of the room?_ The hall was symmetrical more or less, and Abbie and Charles were able to read the words “Laundry” from the mirrored door.

As the two students made their way towards the trash disposal room, they couldn’t help but feel a stagnant chill run down their spine. To Abbie, this area seemed to be likened to a morgue. The gray walls never felt the warmth of the sun and the artificial lights that hung from the ceiling seemed to flicker every so often, like a strange creature was sucking the electricity from the bulbs themselves. Abbie half expected to step on some nasty bug as she walked, but fortunately, she was met only the clacks of their feet on the tiles. At least the door was working and wasn’t like the splintery door from above.

Charles opened the trash room first only to find the room was a blindingly dark void revealing only the lights that shone in one’s eyes. Charles turned back to face Abbie only for a moment, and then turned back towards the dark room. _Is he waiting for something? Why is he hesitating?_

“Hey Abbie, do me a favor, would ya?” Charles started in a matter of fact tone. “I want you to stomp on this old piece of tile here.” 

“Wait, why?”

“Well, I dunno about you, but I’d hate to meet my maker in there. I can’t find a light switch and I’d rather be able to defend myself.” 

“...Ok, yeah, sure.” With a large windup, Abbie swung her leg upwards and then downwards like an axe. With a moderate crack the tile seemed to break into a few discernible pieces, the largest and sharpest of which, Abbie handed to Charles. As she did, she looked into his eyes, searching for a possible glint of malice, but when she saw none, she handed him the piece.

“Yeah, that’s good and all, but could you give me that smaller piece too?”

“Ok?” Abbie wasn’t sure why he needed two pieces, but she gave him the smaller chunk of black tile. Upon doing so, Charles through the piece in the air for a second and caught it, smiled, and then immediately hurled the black matter into the void. Abbie tried to follow its trajectory, but the black tile blended into the darkness almost instantly… if only for a moment.

A flood of white light came into the room and both abbie and Charles had to cover their eyes out of pain. Abbie drew the conclusion almost immediately: when Charles threw the piece of tile, an automatic sensor had triggered the lights to flood in. There must have been a motion sensor that spotted the piece of thrown rubble. Charles looked at Abbie expectantly, Abbie shrugged, and then the two of them entered the Trash Disposal Room.

Despite the darkness, the room was a pale gray alabaster color with large sheets of  metal on all walls of the room. Opposite the door sat two stainless steel barriers that barely missed the ceiling of the room with a foot-high ledge, and in between them was a large pipe leading from the previous floor. It seemed to Abbie that this room was unusually large for the duty at hand, and she wondered if the incineration process took place in this room, or in some other place. Her question was answered when she heard Charles speaking as if he were reading instructions, and when she swiveled to his position she found he was doing exactly that. 

“To drop trash- jeez they don’t even bother putting in the ‘the’... remove the safety stopper from the far wall and then press the button on the opposite wall to drop the trash into the incinerator.” Charles blinked at the plaque he was reading from and then his face turned pink “So then why the hell do they leave off the ‘the’ in the first part, but keep the grammar everywhere else? That’s poor quality right there is what it is.” Abbie wasn’t sure why the guy was getting so worked up over something so meaningless, but for her own safety, she decided to not bother with it.

“You want to give it a try?” Charles asked with a slight smirk. He walked over to the smaller black tile that he had thrown, and placed it on the large trapdoor. “Go take off the safety, and I’ll press the button.”

“Yeah, sure!” With a sense of determination at this new task, Abbie pulled down the level under a sign that read “Safety”. “That should do it, Charles!”

“Alrighty, let’s see where this puppy goes!” With the press of the large red button on the wall opposite Abbie, a loud humming sound began resonating through the room. Abbie rushed over to the trapdoor to watch as the floor spiraled open, dropping the small piece of tile into a dark abyss. Abbie had to assume that it would eventually be burned, and she made it a point to stand as far away from the gap as possible from that point forward. The last thing she wanted to have happen was fall into that fiery hell.

There wasn’t much else to do in the room, so the two Ultimates exited the room back into the spooky hall. They meandered around the other areas on the side but found most of the doors they stumbled upon to be locked, and as such, they continued onward. Eventually they found that the only other door that was even close to unlocked happened to be the laundry room.

With a twist of the knob, Abbie opened the door to find, not a pit of darkness, but rather a rather plain, blue and white room with various washing machines and driers. She took a step inside the room only to discover two unpleasant things. Firstly, the room was intrusively humid, with few fans to help circulate air, and secondly, the room smelled sickeningly sweet. Abbie was fond of detergent smells, but this room smelled overwhelmingly of lilacs. Abbie found herself coughing at the taste she noticed in her mouth. Abbie looked to find that Charles was looking at a dispenser standing in the corner of the room. The machine itself seemed to be a dispenser for detergent and when Charles pushed the bottom on the steel dispenser, a small orange and blue bulbous sac emerged. Apparently not thinking much of it, Charles just left the detergent in spot where it was dispensed. Upon noticing that Abbie was watching him, he smiled and laughed. “First one’s on me.”

The two then left the room, which was a relief for Abbie. She hadn’t noticed it when she was in the laundry room, but now exiting into the cooler hallway, she noticed she was sweating a decent amount. _Thank god I’m not wearing anything that might run or might let people see through my shirt…_

There wasn’t anything else left to discover where they were, so the two returned to the stairs. They were going to go further downward, but were met by another large metal blockade. _But wait, why can I see it on the map if we’re not allowed down there? Weird…_  “Guess Monobear doesn’t want use going down there either, huh?”, asked Abbie with a frown.

“Yeah, probably not until later in the game, huh?”

“The game…?

“Figure of speech." 

“Right…”

It didn’t hit Abbie until just then that she was thoroughly on edge. She was stressed about being alone with this strange boy in this strange place with strange rules. She knew of the dangers that were in the building. She had to be concerned about everyone else there, even the ones who seemed less scary. Even herself.

Her thought would have to continue later as she saw Emily and Logan making their way, albeit slowly, down the stairs. Logan seemed to be hobbling along as it was, and Emily was helping him down little by little. The two of them didn’t seem to be in any major discomfort, but neither of them were able to descend the stairs as fast as Abbie could. 

“Hey you two, how’s the searching coming along?” asked Charles with a vague expression of interest.

“It’s OK, I’d say. I mean, it’s not PERFECT, but you know at least I don’t have a broken leg or anything. I think it’s just twisted is all.” Logan seemed to be grinning through a large amount of pain, _but at least he’s smiling right? I mean, he could be moaning in pain. Thank god he isn’t. I’d hate to see someone in pain AND be annoying at the same time._

“We’re taking things slowly.” said Emily, chipper as usual. “The last thing I want for Logan is for him to ruin his foot, even if he says he’s only twisted it!” _Does everything she say have to end in an exclamation point?_

“That’s smart. Say, have you two found anything else around here?” Charles was all business it seemed. Unfortunately for him ,the slow dup hadn’t made it past their own rooms and as such, Charles informed them of the various rooms on the floor. He told them about how the trash chute only worked when you had a plastic bag fall through it. He told them about the dark trash room, and how the incinerator worked. He told them about the humid laundry room and how it smelled painfully of lilacs. He told them about the otherwise locked doors that served no purpose as of yet. Abbie listened quieted as Charles continued to speak extensively about the tiny details of each room. When he finished, she looked up at him with a look on her face that asked if they would move on.

“So we also got to check out our Talent Rooms, which was really really cool! Have you all been there yet?” Emily was grinning from ear to ear at the mention of a talent room. Abbie had to wonder what a “Talent Room” could entail, but then again, the name “Talent Room” was pretty straightforward. With a new sense of curiosity, she began up the stairs with Charles following close behind.

Abbie and Charles reached the first floor and then paused, unsure of what to do next aside from finding the “Talent Rooms”. They went towards the maze of halls in hopes of finding the source of Abbie’s curiosity. Door after door, the search seemed fruitless, until Abbie and Charles reached the far end of the building.

Upon reaching the end, they were met with a high-ceilinged room with a skylight window that showed off just how tall the actual school was. This little bit of the school seemed to jut out from the rest of the school, and Abbie couldn’t help but find that part a little cool. The foyer opened up eight floors on one level, and a grand middle staircase that led up to a balcony housing eight more rooms. Like one the dormitory doors, a small pixelated caricature rested on each door, reflecting the owner of each room. The columns lining the room were also a nice touch, Abbie mused. _This is so much nicer than the basement, I swear._ Abbie didn’t usually get awestruck, but she found herself marveling in the grandness of the “Talent Room” area.

Abbie was going to look for her own room when she spotted Kayla and Bailey on the balcony exiting Kayla’s room. The two seemed to be making decent conversation, Bailey laughing at something Kayla had said, perhaps. The two didn’t notice Abbie and Charles at first, but as they descended the stairs, Charles caught their eyes. Clearly they had been too absorbed in each other to notice anyone else was there.

“Hey guys!” Charles called out. Bailey’s head instantly snapped towards the two dark haired people who stood at the bottom of the stairs, his face twinged a reddish hue out of embarrassment for not seeing them sooner.

“Sorry man, we were talking about all the cool and interesting shit we found in our rooms!”

“It wasn’t shit, dear Bailey. It was interesting and refined. Not shit.”  Kayla retorted.

“You know what I meant.” Bailey responded, laughing at himself and Kayla’s anger. “Fact is that Kayla and I found this area with doors with our faces on them and we didn’t even need a key, since these things open with- actually,” he paused, “let me show you what I mean.” _Someone’s brain’s moving too fast for their body._ Bailey led Abbie and Charles up the stairs to the door with an icon that shared his aesthetic. Placing his hand on a flat black sensor, Bailey waited for the large orange door to open. With a small *ping* the door rumbled upwards like a garage door.

Abbie was impressed with how interesting and cool Bailey’s room looked to be. She was no music genius, but there seemed to be plenty of interesting things for the Ultimate Band Geek to see and do in his own room. Lining the walls were various woodwinds, brass instruments and other wind instruments at his disposal. There also seemed to be a large computer with what appeared to be a music composing program that projected onto the walls so that Bailey could visually move the music notes to transpose music from his mind to paper. There were chairs of various shapes and sizes in front of music stands and Abbie looked to the back of the room to see that there looked to be almost an entire library of music. Bailey was right, this was some cool and interesting shit. 

“I’ll spare you the details of everything here, but what you see’s what I’ve got. Pretty cool huh?” Bailey was grinning ear to ear while he spoke, and Abbie could tell that his own personal heaven lay not two feet away from him. _Man, I hope that I’m able to look as stupid he does when I get to see my room._ Abbie had to remind herself that no matter what, she wasn’t going to geek out as much as the boy literally giggling like he had just been told he was free to do whatever he wanted.

“Yes, his room is wonderful, but wait until you lay your eyes on my marvelous space!” Kayla interjected. Abbie wanted to see her room, but figured if she denied Kayla’s suggestions, she would be seen as immature and selfish, so she followed the girl in the cardigan across the balcony to her room. Kayla placed her hand on her own panel and, much like Bailey’s orange door, Kayla’s lime green door slowly rumbled upwards.

Abbie found herself a bit conflicted by Kayla’s room. The room was swarming with various costume racks filled with countless numbers of dresses, shirts, skirts, and pants. There were lightbulbs surrounding mirrors on walls, and various cosmetics strewn about on desks. On one of the back walls seemed to ba camera and alighting set that shot onto a small stage for a specific reason. _For practicing purposes, of course… Wait a sec, this room, it’s just a really big closet with a few funky lights!_ Now Abbie wasn’t only conflicted but also jealous as she realized that Kayla would be able to change her outfits day in and day out.

“Well? What do you think?”

“It looks kind of stuffy” surmised Charles.

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Kayla sighed, “But at least I have lot of  marvelous pieces I could wear if I truly wanted to. Abbie, dear, would you like to search around in my room?” Kayla’s question was met with no response. “Abbie?”

 

_“Abbie? Honey, come along now! We’ve got business to take care of!”_

_“Coming daddy!”_  

_“You don’t want to be late for soccer practice do you? C’mon dear, let’s get you out of that silly dress and into your jersey!”_

_“But daddy.... Do I have to?”_

_“Your mother and I paid a lot of money for you to be able to play with everyone else. You can wear this when you get home and have taken a bath ok?”_

_“... Okaay.”_

_“Daddy loves you lots, don’t you forget it. Once this season is over you can do what you’d like, but you can’t fixate yourself on one hobby only to drop it a few weeks later, ok?”_

_“Okay!”_

_“Alright, let’s go to the car, ok Abbie?”_

_“Abbie?”_

 

“Abbie? Are you ok?”

Abbie blinked, shook her head and recollected herself. “Yeah, uh, yeah, Sorry I spaced out there for  bit. Did you want to ask me something?”

“I was asking you if you wanted to try on some costumes in my room,” Kayla mused, “but it would seem that you’re a little distracted. Perhaps another time, darling? I’d love to see what you look like when you clean up!” Kayla smiled, unaware of the insult she had thrown Abbie’s direction.

“Why don’t we check out the other two rooms?” Charles interjected, not waiting for a response from Abbie. The group nodded and Charles descended the grand stairs to find his door, sporting a coat of red paint, complete with his caricature. Placing his palm on the sensor, Abbie watched as his door revealed  various machines that looked like they could be used for assembling, welding or general crafting. There were band saws that looked to have various changeable blades as well as fine pens and printers for forging written papers. Other various woodworking items were on the wall, along with a few other machines. Abbie looked a bit further in to find that there were also sewing materials on one of the back shelves. Abbie looked in Charles’ direction to find him beaming at the room before him. _Maybe he’s more into arts and crafts than you’d think? Counterfeiting involves being skilled in… uh, lots of different fields it seems like._

Abbie wasn’t going to wait for the three other students to accompany her any longer. She ran to the very furthest door on the bottom floor, found the door that matched the color of her hair, and placed her hand on the sensor that sat on the wall next to it. In a moment, the door slowly rumbled upwards to reveal Abbie’s wonderful talent room. As the door rose, Abbie thought she saw something like a bright light emanating from the room, but in reality if was just a bit of artificial sunlight. The room was very similar to a greenhouse, with various plants and crops growing in various pots of plots.

Abbie rushed into the room to find plenty of microscopes and gardening tools, all for the purpose of growing plants and then studying them. She noticed that she had many large shovels, and sharp hedge clippers. _You know, I didn’t notice it until now, but a lot of the items in all of our rooms could be used as murder weapons… I wonder if this was intentional_ . Seeing a small trowel with a sharp edge on one side, Abbie reached out and grabbed it. There didn’t seem to be any rules about removing anything from the talent rooms, and this little thing was small enough she could conceal it in her sports bra. Making sure that no one was looking in her room, she quickly stuffed that small trowel down her shirt, making an effort to make sure that the small shovel didn’t stand out anywhere. _For self-defence. Nothing more. Okay, Abbie? You only use this if someone attacks you and nothing else._

“Abbie? Did you have anything cool in your roo-” Abbie pivoted to see Bailey marveling and the white and green coloring of the entire room. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you were into plants.” 

Abbie laughed with a twinge of self-consciousness. _He can’t see the trowel, can he?_  

“I mean, yew have no idea how big of a plant nerd I am. Pfft hehe...” Abbie laughed at her own joke only to find Bailey had a blank expression on his face. “Yew? You know, like the kind of tree slash bush?”

“That was a joke?”

“Yeah… it was meant to be a joke.”

“Oh,” responded Bailey looking a little guilty “sorry Abbie. I didn’t get it, and now that you’ve explained the joke it doesn’t have the level of kick a normal joke would have, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“But hey, your room looks really neat! Lots of plants and everything. Guess we really can believe you when you say you’re the Ultimate Botanist and not lying about your talent!”

“Wait, what?” Abbie was confused by this last remark of Bailey’s. “You can believe me? Did you not already take me at my word when I told you I was the Ultimate Botanist?”

Bailey looked a little flustered, but tried to explain himself. “No, no, no, it’s not like that at all. I believed you from the start, but like considering there’s someone who refuses to tell us his talent, I thought that it might be revealing to see what his talent room looks like.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Bailey was referring to the fact that Hans claimed that his card was blank. _Guess he doesn’t believe Hans. That’s a shame._

Abbie and Bailey then exited the room, and Abbie closed the door the same way she opened it. With a thud, the door closed and the four students reunited in the center area. After a small pause, Charles spoke up.

“I think it’s cool, you know, that you can have a space that only opens by your touch.”

“Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr if you bite the dust! Out of nowhere, Monobear!” The bear jumped out of seemingly nowhere and was standing directly in front of the four of them. Abbie flinched at the sight of the bear.   _Every time, too dammit_.

“What is it, Monobear?” asked Kayla, irritated.

“Well I just wanted to let you know that you’ve got your facts wrong! Sore wa chigau yo you all if you know what I mean.”

“Soar-ay what?” asked Charles scratching his head. 

“The point is that when you die, your talent room opens up for everyone else to see! Got any creepy secrets in there? Gee I sure hope not! I’d hate to see the looks on your classmates’ faces when they see you’ve been hiding your massive lewd items collection!” Abbie rolled her eyes at this remark. She didn’t want, nor hoped, to find anything of the sort. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d be seeing the inside of anyone else’s room without them. _No one is dying here, and I’m going to make sure of it_.

“Ok well,” Abbie began, “no one is going to be dying here. It’s still literally the first day, sure, but I believe in us that no one will be dying in this building.” 

“Ewwwww, gross, icky yucky hope. Get it away from me!” screamed the bear. “You know, I can’t wait to see the look on your face in like three days time. Oh boy the despair you’ll feel will be sublime!”

“I wish I could punch you.”

“Yeah, well, you know what happens if you do! Lots of warm fuzzy zappy static electricity will hit ya!”

“That’s not even how electricity works!”

“Yeah well, I’ll have you know that I was nearly accepted to this school for my ability to drive trains!”

“What the hell do you even mean? You’re a freaking robot bear!”

“They said I was a good conductor! Eh? Eh?”

That was it. Abbie wound up her foot and swung her foot forward, but instead of hitting the bear, she hit Charles in the shin; he had jumped in front of her attempt on Monobear. Recoiling in pain, Charles seemed frustrated with both Abbie and Monobear. “Abbie what the hell, you know you can’t hurt the bear or he hurts you. Also fuck you for kicking me so hard! Did play soccer as a kid or something?!”

“Seems like I’m not really wanted anymore. Fine. The dean of students will now make his exit. And with that, POW! I’m gone!” With the screechy shouts, the bear vanished into thin air again. Kayla and Bailey were looking at Charles who was walking off the pain, and Abbie who was taking deep breaths in and out. She had to calm herself down ,there were other people watching and this was the first day. She wasn’t setting a very good first impression, now that she thought of it.

“S-sorry guys… maybe we should leave and go somewhere else?”

“Yeah… let’s do that.” Agreed Charles, worried about Abbie’s rage trip. “Kayla, Bailey, you two know of any other places on this floor worth checking out?”

“Well,” began Kayla with pause, “I remember seeing a sign that said “Topiary and Sculpture Garden” or something along those lines… but I don’t believe I’m the Ultimate Memorizer or anything of the sort.” 

Bailey responded to this notion in agreement. “Yeah, we haven’t actually gone there yet, but I remember seeing signs for it too. Have you two been there yet?”

“No,” responded Charles, “I don’t think we have. That sounds like a pretty smart plan though. I’d lead the way, but I think you two know where you’re going.” Abbie wanted to roll her eyes at that last part, but she instead she watched Kayla do it for her. But sure enough Bailey marched forwards leading the group out of the wonderful “Talent Room” hall and back into the maze of halls and classrooms.

They walked for a while and Abbie began to feel like they were walking in circles only for the group to stumble upon a set of large opaque-glass doors. The doors themselves seemed to be glowing, not unlike how Abbie’s room seemed to be emanating a daylight glow. Abbie mused that it was possible these doors perhaps led outdoors, but then turning to face the windows, she saw the overcast sky and reconsidered her thoughts. But there seemed to be an aura of life coming from behind the large glass doors, and Abbie wanted to discover what was behind them.

With Bailey leading the way, the four students opened the doors to find a magnificent, at least in Abbie’s eyes, courtyard teeming with sunshine and grass. It was as if they had walked straight into a large park on a clear summer’s day. There was a strange warmth to the room and Abbie felt what seemed to be a light summer breeze near her head. Abbie looked up, expecting to see a blue sky, only to find a strange, almost warehouse-like, ceiling complete with girders and large  The group walked along the stone path to a central plaza, complete with a charming fountain with badgers and snakes spewing cool and clear water. The park had various sculptures made from what looked to be some kind of marble, not unlike the shattered tiger statue. The sculptures themselves seemed to all be very serene, though upon a closer inspection, Abbie noticed that when she faced a statue, the right side of each face was dark and had a jagged eye similar to that of Monobear’s. Scoffing, Abbie moved her focus away from the wobbly statues.

“HANSSSSSSS WHERE’D YOU GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?” Charles, Abbie, Bailey and Kayla all turned their heads to see Maria searching through various hedge sculptures in hopes of finding her partner. She rounded another corner to find the boy looking startled. _What was he doing? Looking at the grass? Can’t blame him, it looks great._ Hans rose and sighed. 

“I’m r-right here, there’s no n-need to, uh, yell, ok?”

“Well sorry for being worried when I’m all alone in this scary field-y garden area and my partner decides to run off so he can investigate whatever he goshdarn wants to. I mean, I don’t mind THAT much but it’s still a little scary because there could be a murderer here and I really really don’t wanna be killed!”

“Well,” Hans said with a sigh, “that makes two of us, uh, I guess…” He looked over to see the group of four students watching and holding back their laughter. “H-hey guys, welcome t-to the s-sculpture garden.” Hans grimaced as he looked to see Maria, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of company.

“Hey hey everyone! Lemme try your names again. You’ve got Chuck, Annie, Billy and Kara, right? Or am I wrong? I don’t remember. Anyways, this place is pretty cool, though it’s a little weird how it’s so summery when outside looks like some crappy winter scene. I like it in here I think.” Maria’s words were as fast and flighty as ever.

Laughing, Kayla spoke up. “Oh Maria, never change. It’s Kayla by the way, not Kara-”

“Same difference” Maria responded, cutting Kayla off in the process.

More annoyed now, KAyla began speaking again. “Anyways, tell me you two, what’s there to see in this splendid place? Any interesting factors, or traps?”

“Uh, you see-”

“There are a lot of really neat things here but one thing you gotta be careful are those statues. Mr. Clumsy doofy over here bumped into that one on the right over there,” interrupted Maria, pointing to the statue that Abbie had been observing previously, “it’s wobbly and Hans nearly knocked it over. Monobear needs to invest in better support systems or something, I tell ya. It’s dangerous in here.” 

“Y-yeah, uh, what she said… I’ll m-make sure to not make the m-mistakes of, uh, bumping into another statue, uh, again… haha.” Hans tried faking some laughter, but it was met with stone faces. 

“But you know, it’s not horrible in here.” Abbie was determined to make sure her friends looked past her outburst with Monobear . “Maybe we could have a picnic in here sometime, or some sort of field day?” She looked around, hoping that the other would like the idea, but she too was met with indifference.

“There’s really not much to see here, is there?” Charles seemed bored by the room as a whole and was anxious to get moving, or so he appeared to Abbie. “Why don’t we head back to the cafeteria? I’d bet people are finishing up their investigations.” There wasn’t any friction created from the suggestion, and so the group of six decided to make their way back together. 

Upon returning to the main hall, Abbie realized that she hadn’t given the cafeteria a good investigation yet, so while everyone else waited, she and Charles went to explore the area a bit. The cafeteria was a weird mashup between retro and modern as the the wooden floors and tan bricked walls seemed old and in need of a new coat of varnish, while the kitchen and food serving areas were clean and seemed to sparkle as if everything had been polished.

In the far corner of the dining area, Abbie noticed a small convenience store area. _Of course, it’s called the “Mono-Mart”. Why would I expect anything less?_ With slight pause, she entered it to find a few small shelves stocked with various foodstuffs. Abbie meandered through the aisles to find various medications as well. _Man, for someone wanting us to kill each other, Monobear sure does give us a lot of ways to stay healthy._ Abbie was going to continue along that line of thought when she picked up a bottle of what appeared to be “Aceta-mono-phen”. Curious, she read the label.

  * Cherry flavor
  * Good for general pain relief
  * Toxic in large doses
  * Do not consume with alcohol



_So he just took off the label for general Acetaminophen and out his name on it? Typical. I feel like I’m saying that a lot too, jeez... I need some more original thoughts or somthing._

Charles made his way over to the cabinets filled with various beverages. Abbie was surprised to see that for once Charles seemed vaguely interested in something. She followed his gaze to see various cans of non-descriptive beer laying in one of the cooled cabinets. She then saw the outrageous amounts of alcohol that happened to be on sale as well and chuckled a bit. She wasn’t a huge binge drinker, but she didn’t mind a drink now and again.

“We-he-hell, I know what I’ll be buying when I get some money” grinned Charles.  He grabbed a gold carboard case of beer and brought it towards the doors, but was upon walking past two ceiling-length silos, he was met with a loud buzzer and a large metal door trapping him and Abbie inside.

“No, no, no!  Theft from my mini-mart is NOT allowed!” As usual, Monobear spun from the void and arrived on the scene to lecture Charles. “Ok, so I’ll let you idiots off with a warning since this is your first time here, but jeez, you really need to work on your intuitive skills. Did they not teach you that in third grade?”

“Can you get to the point?”

“Fine Mr. I don’t care about the rules enough to be an upstanding student. You see how there isn’t a barcode on the box? Take your iMono and slide it against the picture of me. It’s a magnetic strip, and no, it won’t mess up your screen display, I promise. Though can you imagine if it did?” The bear began to blush with excitement. “Why, I think you’d just go outright nuts, wouldn’t you?” Ignoring the last part, Charles pulled his iMono from his pocket, and swiped it against the picture of Monobear. Just like that the buzzer stopped and the metal doors flew open, once again allowing the students to leave.

“Oh and by the way,” Monobear continued, “don’t think you can just anonymously buy everything and anything. I keep track of the crap you suckers buy! You might be able to find it if you ask nicely!”

“Who cares? Not me! That’s for sure.” Charles walked out with a smirk on his face. Perhaps he thought he had just conned the bear out of something? Abbie wasn’t sure either way. Frowning at the bear, she watched he waved his paw and then once again vanished into thin air. _How does he do that? How does a bear just… vanish?_

Time passed and the six students waited. Slowly but surely the rest of the cast began trickling into the cafeteria, some happier than others. No one had found a means of escape, but certain people were very interested in talking about how they had explored as much as they could. After Charles gave a summary of what he and Abbie found, no one had much to say as they had seen mostly the same.

“There doesn’t seem to be much else that to explore at the moment. Perhaps now would be a good time to make our way to bed, no?” proposed Joseph.

“Yeah you narcs!” _Oh for fucks’s sake not again._ “It’s almost night time and this place is about to lock up, so I need you all to hit the hay and go to be, maybe jerk off a little, whatever you do before you go to bed.” A few people visibly recoiled at Monobear’s monologue.

Kristen in particular was put off “Do you have no decency. We have only just all met each other and already you tend to assume the worst, most vulgar things of us. How dare you.” In a huff, she stormed out. Without the anger, the rest of the group followed suit and stood outside the cafeteria. Abbie watched as a bunch of bars came down on the door that would otherwise open into the cafeteria. _I don’t get why I’m always so surprised by something like this happening, but then again, wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he was locking up for the night_.

“Yeah, uh, I think it might be best if we all hit the sack. But let’s all meet here first thing tomoroaughhhhhhhh...” Ian began a heavy yawn as he spoke, and with some collective nods, a majority of the students made their way down the spiral stairs to their bedrooms. When the dust cleared only Abbie and Erica remained at the top of the stairs. Abbie had watched as the students departed, noting who stuck with whom and seeing that Erica had been doing the same, she decided she’d wait until Erica made her move. It was a strange game of chicken, but Abbie decided to give in and start the conversation.

“So, how was everyone for you?” It was an awkward start, and was met with an awkward response.

“I mean, it wasn’t bad? My partner was pretty cool, if a little weird.” The two girls began to walk and talk as they descended the spiral staircase together.

“You had Peter for your partner, right? Isn’t he like the Ultimate Math Person or something like that?”

Erica’s frown softened a bit. “No- I mean, well kind of? He’s really smart it seems like, but he also does some really weird stuff.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Did you get to checking out the trash chute?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well you know how it only allows garbage in a trash bag?” Abbie could see where this was going. 

“Did he try and test that theory for himself?” 

“Yeah, he tried climbing into it, but the thing wouldn’t open up so he could fall.”

Abbie looked at Erica. Erica looked at Abbie. Slowly two grins emerged and eventually grew into stifled laughter.

“God, what’s that’s kid’s deal?” Abbie asked while holding back giggles. 

“Like I said, he’s smart, but he does some weird stuff. Monobear chewed him out for it too!”

“God, I hate that bear. He got mad at Charles when he didn’t scan his item from the Mono Mart. It was really stupid.”

“How is he?” 

“Who Charles?”

“Yeah, him. Our supreme leader and everything. Is he as smug as he looks?” Abbie had to think about the question. She wouldn’t have called him smug, more cocky and self-assured.

“He’s very… authoritative. Like he’s used to being the one in charge, y’know?”

“Sure! He just seemed very… well I mean, he didn’t seem to have a ton of self-awareness.” 

As Erica said those last words, the two found themselves standing in front of their rooms, directly across from each other. AS the two opened their doors, they looked across the way one last time. 

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Only if someone doesn’t kill me in my sleep,” joked Erica “or you too. Or both of us.”

“Very funny, Erica.” Abbie forced a laugh, and then took a few steps backwards and closed the door to her room.

It had been a long day indeed. Between the waking up from the earthquake, the whole ceremony, people getting scared, and exploring the campus, Abbie was wiped out. She undressed into her skimpy purple pajamas, threw her old clothes into a pile near her closet, placed the trowel in her closet away from obvious visibility, and crawled into bed. Without her flipping a switch, the lights seemed to dim.

As she lay still, Abbie found herself having difficulties falling asleep. Maybe it was the hectic day, or perhaps it was the fear of knowing that she was in mortal danger. She rose from her bed to make sure her door was locked, and upon jiggling the knob, her tensions was eased as the knob didn’t turn whatsoever. She returned to her purple canvas and once again tried her best to fall asleep. The room was eerily silent, and Abbie wished she had a fan or something to at least make a small bit of noise so that she wouldn’t have to fear the small rumbles and creaks that she believed she would eventually hear.

 

_This is my life now. This is where I am… how did I get here? I mean, I woke up sure. I was in that hallway. It was sunny... What do I remember before that?  Can I remember anything before that? … I can’t remember the past? But only parts? I mean, I know I graduated high school, and I got accepted into a prestigious University… wait… where did I get accepted into? Was it this school? This strange… all indoor… campus run by a bear?_

 

_I don’t remember… signing up for this…_

 

_Why can’t I… remember anything?_

 

_At…_

 

_All…?_

 

  _..._

 

* * *

 

**MONOBEAR THEATER**

I dunno about the rest of you, but I quite enjoy watching these games take place. There are plenty of ways to kill someone. You’ve got stabbing, bludgeoning, axing, cleaving, slicing, dicing, smashing, incinerating, dropping, driving them to suicide, and other fun things. But I think the most cowardly and unfun killing of all is one that can be done with very little effort on the killer’s part. I mean, who even wants to watch something like that play out? Talk about boring? Me? I’d love to watch teens take part in countless forms of violence, not something stupid like smothering someone in their sleep or poisoning someone with a slow acting poison. That’s just no fun at all! You’ve gotta get creative with the way you kill your friends!

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day down, however many more to go! I've created plenty of loose ends that I'm sure you've noticed:  
> \- Charles' large piece of tile  
> \- Abbie crazy mood swings and flashbacks  
> And a few other things that I won't point out to you all because you're all smart people.
> 
> OK so I actually finished this part today, so I might as well upload it. But for real, this is the last update for a while. Maybe it wasn't the smartest to dump all these at once, but haha, who cares? I write too much so who cares. If you've got an predictions suggestions, or any other fun comments please comment below!


	6. Chapter 1: Run Along Children, The Worst is Yet to Come - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Hopefully I'll be able to keep updates somewhere between 8-10 days so that no one really loses interest or anything. I would like to inform all readers that this chapter is one of the reasons why I have made this chapter for mature audiences as it does have what the ESRB calls "Suggestive themes"
> 
> In any case, let's see what our protagonist is up to now, shall we?

 

_“The only people who can have normal are the ones unaffected by all the fucked-up shit that happens around them.”_  
\- Ilona Andrews  


 

* * *

 

“We open on a stormy sea where the world is like shaking and quaking and the wonderful skies are breaking open to reveal a yellow view that can only be likened to a small town with a stand arrow. Two colorful girls standing on a boat! There they are! Aren’t they magnificent! Why they-”

“What is our hero doing in this strange predicament? Could it be she realized the struggles of her endeavors? A broke girl with nowhere to go. No one to call? No one to hold? My what a pitiful existence she carries with her! Why doesn’t she just go back to how things were? And why is she with that strange looking purple girl? Doesn’t she realize she doesn’t need her?”

“Quiet you! I’m driving a narrative!”

“So am I! I’m trying to kill everyone off! I want to see the looks on people’s faces when they get a healthy dose of friendship destruction!”

“But listen, see? You’re giving away all the plot details! You can’t have a dream sequence in the first chapter and have everyone accept it for what it is. What if I were to saw, oh, I don’t know, ‘Q is two people at the same time!’ right when Sigma and Phi open the training doors for the first time? What then?

“But I wanna see people’s reactions to the killing part… I wanna see them roll their eyes when I make a harebrained plot twist…”

“In time my sweet, in time.”

“But my, why is the sky yellow and strange? Could it be that maybe we’re about to enter a feverish excuse of a foreshadowing event?”

“Hey! I’m the captain of this dream sequence and I get to decide what happens. And now, I’m deciding that the storm at seas gets to capsize this boat and the two girls fall overboard and drown!”

“Not bad captain, not bad.”

 

* * *

 

 

***Ding dong bing bong***

“Goooooooooooooooooooooood morning everyone! The time is now 7 AM which means it’s morning time! Get your lazy asses out of bed, it’s going to be a beeeeeeeeautiful day! Let’s give it everything we’ve got!”

 

_Ugh, fuck is that my alarm… where the hell is the snooze button… ugh… wait… OH SHIT. OH SHIT_

“OH SHIT!” Abbie sat herself straight up, as if rising from a nightmare. Maybe it was the sudden awakening from Monobear that gave her the startle, or perhaps it was her realization of the reality of her situation and the fact that it wasn’t a dream. Then again, she could’ve been smacked with a plank of wood on her back due to some Monobear magic, no option was too strange for her situation. Abbie looked around the room to find a few of her blankets strewn about. _Guess I was having some pretty bad dreams… something about a stormy sea and yellow sky? I can’t remember...  I can’t say I’m surprised though._

Throwing more purple blankets off herself, Abbie slipped on some random flip flops she found underneath her bed, removed her white hair ties, grabbed a towel from her closet, and made her way out of her room towards the bathroom. She realized upon grabbing the door handle two things. The first, she hadn’t locked her room door and that she hadn’t even bothered to bring her keys with her, the second, she hadn’t ever actually been in the bathrooms here before. Shrugging at the implications of both facts, she swung open the door to the ladies’ room.

Abbie’s gaze was met with a sea of dull pinks and reds. The floors were lined with a grayish pink set of stone tile, while the walls found themselves wearing alternating pink, red and white tiles with some faded and chipping. Her gaze was first met by the rows of unimpressive sinks that lined the middle of the bathroom. Looking to her left, Abbie saw the surprisingly clean red toilet stalls, and how all of them sat slightly open. _Looks like no one’s really in there. I really hope they lock though. I wouldn’t put it past Monobear to give us stalls that don’t give us privacy._ Her gaze shifted then to the right to find an entry to a steamy showering area which had various stone partitions with white curtains for privacy. She only noticed the color of the curtains though as there seemed to be a single shower in use, but that didn’t seem to bother Abbie much. Repeating the action she had already done a few times that day, she shrugged and sauntered her way over to an empty stall. She hung her towel on a hook, closed the pure white curtain,  and stripped down. She would’ve been in a pickle having to deal with wet clothes had there not been an accessible little  bin in the corner of the stall, but given the circumstances, she threw her clothes in and created a second sound of rushing water to compliment the other shower’s quiet pitter-patter.

This simple duet of water quickly turned cacophonic when Abbie heard a squeaky-slipping noise, followed by a crash and a painful wry. She turned off the water, and using the shower curtain as a cover for her nude figure, she looked out to find a very naked Maria lying sideways in a pool of water that had accumulated outside of her stall, her towel sitting a foot away. _Did she somehow pratfall in such a way that her towel came clean off her? This kind of stuff only happens in like weird TV shows and erotic fanfiction._

“Hey! Are you o-ok?” Hesitant to remove her makeshift toga, Abbie stayed put and watched as Maria scrambled for her towel.

“What the hell are you looking at, oh shit are you looking at me oh god this is embarrassing please don’t get any ideas and no pictures please please please!” Clearly flustered, Maria moved through the steamy room thankful for its light concealment and in a flash, put on her yellow top with her towel wrapped around her waist. Unfortunately for Maria, due to her front being as wet as it was, her shirt did very little to hide her enormous bust, which Abbie couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed by.

“Hold on a sec. You're a little flustered... and your face is all red... You were looking at my boobs. Weeeeeeeeren’t you.” She was playfully aggressive in her winking accusation.

“U-uh, no not at all…” Abbie started to defend herself, but as she did, her eyes crept down to the very wet and very transparent shirt Maria was sporting. “Ah, uh, shit. Sorry… Are you ok?” She had to move the topic away to something far less lewd. “You took a big fall there, are you ok?”

“Abbie, just tell me if you were looking at my boobs.” Maria winced as she said the words, mostly out of pain from her fall than exasperation. “Like, I get it. They’re obviously large and I get guys and girls alike looking at me every dang day. I’m used to it, and I don’t mind… most of the time, just like, y’know, tell me if you’re looking at them. I like it when people don’t lie to me!” The last words were spoken so whimsically Abbie wondered if Maria hadn’t already forgotten that she had fallen hard on her side.

“I mean, uh, well,” Abbie stammered, “I mean, it’s hard not to…” _Thank god she’s not Medusa. Shit, man I don’t think she’s… convinced? No, that’s not the right word_ … _satisfied. She’s not satisfied with that answer I think._ “Yes, Maria, I was looking at your breasts, sorry.” 

“It’s alright, I’m used to it.” With a bit of a sigh, Maria made her way to the exit.

“You know, you might want to change your top, unless you want all the guys to see what your nipples look like…” Abbie was hesitant to say the last part, but she found that Maria nodded with thanks,

“The same can be said for you, you know.” Maria said, smirking. Abbie hadn’t realized that she had let the curtain a little slack when talking. Her motherhood was on display for anyone to see through the steam, which prompted a rather loud exclamation.

With a scramble, Abbie retreated back to the confines of her shower stall, and began to wash her hair. _Maybe if I scrub hard enough, I can cleanse myself of that shitty embarrassment._ The warmth of the water was a wonderful surprise for Abbie, since she had expected Monobear to give them nothing but ice water with which to bathe. As she massaged her scalp, the foamy bubbles from the shampoo toppled down her wet hair and splattered across the floor, Abbie took time to find a sweet release from the strange tension she had felt before. The shower was warm and comforting… until the water became millions of tiny chilling flies falling on her back. Disgruntled, Abbie turned off the cold water, and toweled off.

As Abbie swung back the curtain, wearing her pajamas and slinging her towel over her shoulder, she took a look at where Maria had fallen earlier. There wasn’t any blood, but it appeared as if the tile flooring had cracked a little bit in a particular area, not unlike how it did when she had given Charles something to throw. She lifted the small cracked square to find a strange layer of a cushy material. She dug around in the spongy material until her hand was met with a sharp pain. “SHIT! What the hell?!” Abbie recoiled her hand to see it appeared slightly singed, and upon inspecting the hole in the ground, she saw what appeared to be various wires, no doubt brimming with electricity. “This is…” _an electric fence? What?_ Confused, Abbie gingerly covered the wire, and placed the broken tile pieces where she had found them, and exited while sucking on her shocked hand in the process and laughing at her shockingly wild ride of a morning.

She returned to her room and disrobed once again, this time donning one of her many daily wear options. Of course, there was no option since each outfit was identical to the last, or at least initially. Abbie saw it fit to give one of the cuffs on her shirt a nice tear to differentiate it from the rest. With that flaw, Abbie found that her outfit was a little more unique and she smiled. _Anything to raise the spirits_. She put her, now dry, hair into two short twintails that looked like little purple weeds growing from the white mounding hair ties, and allowed herself a gentle smile. It was a new day.

“It’s a new day. You made it through the night, which I guess is an accomplishment? Just go out there,try to make friends with these people and maybe don’t end up dead. You can do this.” It was a confidence technique she had learned when she was younger. The headstrong belief that she could do it was enough to motivate her, even if in reality she lacked the ability. If she believed the words, she could do it.

Abbie finished her peptalk started grinning a little too wide and gathered her necessary belongings for the day, she opened the door to her room only to find a similar situation across the hall.

“Good morning Erica! Sleep well?”

“Looks like someone woke up on the right side of the bed.” Erica said with a yawn. “Are you always this chipper in the mornings?”

“Not exactly. I mean, it’s a good idea to keep a positive mental attitude… but am I being a little over the top? Should I tone it down a bit?”

“Please do. Not that I don’t admire your enthusiasm, but it’s a bit jarring.”

“What do you mean, jarring?”

“Like, you know… unexpected, forced, abrupt, strange? I think it’s uncharacteristic of you?”

“Oh but see that’s where you’re wrong Erica, you can’t be uncharacteristic if you don’t have a set personality to begin with.”

“Wait, hold on… are you saying that you’re always like this?”

“Nope. I’m just trying to be a bit over the top so I don’t let dread and despair ruin my hopes of getting out of here.”

Erica stared at Abbie blankly. “This feels really fake. You should stop.”

“No, no, it’s fine I swear!”

Putting her hand on Abbie’s shoulder, Erica sighed and shook her head. “Believe me, you’re going to get tired out. Just take the good things as they come, that’s what I do.” there was a beat, and then Erica started again. “But seriously, wipe that creepy grin off your face. Your face is beginning to scare me.” The words were said with complete deadpan, so Abbie had to take a moment and consider whether Erica was joking or not. When it became clear that Erica was being serious, Abbie relaxed her face. _Shit, I didn’t even realize my face is already sore ass hell_.

“Better?” asked Abbie, more subdued than before.

“Extremely. I may have only known you for like a day, but I can already tell this is more you.”

When Abbie didn’t know how to respond to Erica’s compliment, if you could call it that, she steered the conversation a different direction. “Hey, remember… uh crap I can’t remember who suggested it, but we should head up to the cafeteria.”

“Oh, yeah, good idea.” And with the sudden change in pace of the conversation, the two girls made their way up the spiral stairs and entered the cafeteria. The time was 8:35 according to the red clock that hung above them.

The cafeteria was buzzing with life. Abbie saw Lexi, Maria, Ian and Peter talking at one table, Charles, Nate, Kayla and Emily at another, and a few students in the kitchen. It seemed as if Bailey, Kristen, and Ellie were in there preparing a meal, while Logan and Hans were in the MonoMart. “Good morning.” Abbie and Erica turned to find that their presence was made clear by Joseph, who had been waiting in the corner for their arrival. Just as Abbie had predicted, the two were the last to arrive. “It took you two girls long enough. We were all beginning to get very very worried for you.” The mountaineer’s smooth voice was stern, but laced with underlying concern.

“It sure doesn’t seem like everyone’s worried about us..” mumbled Erica.

"Well, do not worry about them. I was worried for you… er maybe worried is not the correct word.” The mountaineer scratched the stubble on his chin. “I believe I meant that I was concerned for you two to make sure that neither of you were killed in your sleep.” Abbie appreciated the sentiment, but had to wonder, _Did he really expect someone to be dead after just one day?_

“Well, we’re here.” Erica was oddly blunt with her words. She seemed to Abbie like she wanted to forego the small talk and get down to business. Joseph picked up on Erica’s tone and directed the conversation another direction.

“Before you got here, Misters Nate and Charles had the idea to explore the school. They wanted to see if we could not perhaps get to other floors in the school, or if we really are trapped on these two floors.”

“Why yes, we did talk about that.”

“ACK! Don’t freaking sneak up on us like that!” The voice surprised Abbie and warranted her reaction and evidently Erica and Joseph shared a similar feeling. The surprising voice came from Nate, who seemed to have snuck up on them when they weren’t looking. _I guess his marksman skills must translate to hunting somehow? Like sneaking up on prey or something._

“Sorry, it’s a bit of a habit. But what I mean to say is that we’re probably going to break off into groups and explore the place a bit more today. It’s probably the best use of our time anyway.”

“Well, wait,” interrupted Erica, “sorry interrupt you, but when was this decided?”

Nate paused for a brief moment, finding the right words to say, then began again. “Well, there wasn’t exactly a vote, but there were quite a few of us who seemed open to the idea.”

“So, we came to an agreement more or less, and it would seem that it would be for the benefit of the whole group. In addition it gives us something to do today, would you not agree?” Joseph gave an earnest smile to Erica, one that seemed to say “Come now, this will be fun”. Erica was visibly thinking about things. Abbie could read on her face that while the plan was a good one, Erica wasn’t a fan of being left out of the planning.

With a sigh, Erica surrendered her free will. “Yeah, sure, sounds fun.”

Nate then turned to Abbie “Abbie? What do you think?”

“I mean, I don’t like being left out of decisions... but I was going to say we should explore more anyways.” Abbie said these words, remembering the joy she felt in the Talent Area and maybe hoped to return there in hopes of finding a clue to their ensnarement.

“To be honest,” Nate said with a small grin, “I was expecting more of a fight from you. But sounds cool, I’ll let everyone know.” The marksman walked off, leaving a few random leaves in his wake. Abbie wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be fascinated with the plants that fell from the boy’s hair, or disgusted. She didn’t get a chance to decide when Nate climbed atop a table.

“Hey everyone, can I get your attention?” His voice was firm, and not as high as Charles which seemed to carry better. People looked up from their conversations, the others exited the kitchen. Abbie saw as Logan and Hans exited the convenience store, bags in hand. “Alright, so congrats to everyone for surviving the first night. I can’t imagine it was too difficult if you all locked your doors.” No one laughed at Nate’s dry humor. “Anyways, I think it’s been decided that we all think we should go explore the rest of the school and look for any means of going higher, or lower.”

“Higher or lower?” Ellie asked the question with an understanding smile. “Like, trying to go upstairs to the second floor, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much, though I think bigger groups might be helpful, in case we have to move things out of the way.”

“Yeah, Nate, I like that thought. We should probably make sure each group has at least one strong person in it.” How Charles planned to determine who was “strong” seemed a bit trivial to Abbie, but the two guys seem pretty well-rehearsed. This would be the plan they’d be going forward with, and Abbie was alright with it.

“You know,” chimed in Ian, “We could try bashing out one of the windows here. There’s plenty of snow on the ground too so we can have a decently safe landing…” Abbie hadn’t bothered looking out the window since the sky was so plainly overcast, but sure enough, Ian was right, a thick layer of snow coated the ground surrounding the building. _The idea doesn’t seem bad but-_

“WOAH NELLY! You guys are getting a little ahead of yourselves arentcha?” With a spin, the stuffed bear apparated into existed. “Upupupupu… don’t even THINK about breaking open any windows!”

With a tone of awkward confrontation, Ian rebutted the bear. “And, well, why not?”

“Wow, that’s a stupid question. If you had a teacher who said that there were no such things as such questions, well they were R-O-N-G! WRONG!”

“Erm, could you not insult my questions please?”

“The reason you shouldn’t bust open those windows is because you can’t! Simple as that! I mean, if you somehow DID manage to open the windows, then you’d all freeze to death! Heating is expensive and I have to use all the fire to burn things every morning!”

“That would clarify why I was so chilly last night even with my blankets...” Kristen seemed to speak with a still shiver. “That and the clothes I got were less than ideal for staying warm.”

Monobear ignored her and continued speaking. “And speaking of burning things, you gadabouts are faaaaaaaar too lazy to be Ultimates. So therefore, I’ve devised a list of chores for some of you! That’ll be a wonderful use of your time, keeping our campus clean is one way we get to attracting students every year!” The group of students muttered amongst themselves. It seemed that most people weren’t a fan of the idea of doing chores, but Abbie was able to make out a few positive sounding murmurs. “Well now! Here’s the list of chores! Only some of you actually have to do things, others are off the hook! For now at least, upupu…” Monobear blushed as he left the sentence hanging. After a moment, Monobear reached behind him and pulled out a list with childish scrawls. Ian snatched the list and read the chores aloud for the group to hear.

“Wow, this is some really bad handwriting Mr. Monobear. Let’s, uh, let’s see what we have here.

        * Hans - Trash collection and dumping
        * Ellie - Incinerating Trash
        * Nate - Cleaning the Male bathrooms
        * Lexi - Polishing the silverware in the cafeteria
        * Logan - Dust the Center Hall
        * Emily - Cleaning the Female Bathrooms”



 

No one was happy about this.

A general commotion began in the cafeteria but was broken by a loud outburst.

“THE FUCK?! I’m on fucking SILVERWARE POLISHING DUTY? Nuh-uh, no way you stupid fucking bear, there’s no way I’m doing this shit.”

“Failure to comply with chores is subject for academic review and probable, in this case certain, punishment! Consider this a bit of a push for you all!”

“Oh Emily, darling, I’d be willing to help you with your chores if you so desired.” Kayla said, touching Emily’s shoulder gingerly.

“Oh Kayla, you don’t hafta. I’ve had lots and lots of experience cleaning toilets with a toothbrush. Pfft, This’ll be a cinch” _Well at least Emily’s staying on the positive side of things. Thank God I’m off the hook though… maybe  I could volunteer to help some people?_

“Hey MONOBEAR! I’ve still got a leg injury, how the hell am I supposed to dust the entire main hall when it still hurts to even WALK?” Logan was frustrated with his position, though Abbie wasn’t quite sure why. _He doesn’t have to use his legs for anything and there are painkillers in the MonoMart, he could have it far worse.”_

“Oh Logan” the bear replied, “life sucks, then you die.”

“Well how about the highest spots in the room?

“Upupu, there’s a storage closet you’ve all walked past no this floor that has a ladder AND a stepladder!” Monobear turned his body so that most of his darker side showed. “And remember, falling and snapping your neck warrants a class trial!” The room quieted down again, until a new voice spoke up.

“Wow Ellie, how can you stand to be called ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’ if you get called for chores?” asked a pensive Kristen.

“Y’know, I’m not sure, but it seems like I did get the easiest job… Guess I’ve got luck that way?” She grinned to herself after saying those words. _She must admire her luck more than I thought._

“Uh, M-Monobear, a-are you gonna, uh, maybe g-give us… y’know a few more d-details, um on our chores… I don’t want to j-just be expected t-to do, uh, something and then h-have n-no instruction…” Hans scratched his neck as he spoke, unsure if his question would also be labeled as “stupid” like Ian’s before him.

“Good question Hans! Your dean of students would hate to see you all do things poorly!” Hans smiled for a moment, but then his mouth fell back into a sullen frown at Monobear’s follow-up. “You all will find instructions on your iMonos, which if you hadn’t figured out already, are one of a kind. DON’T. LOSE. THEM.”

The group stood around, waiting for Monobear to continue on his tirade of strange euphemisms and thinly veiled insults, but oddly enough Monobear simply stood there.

“Well, Mr. Monobear? Is that all? Are we free to explore again?” asked Joseph, adjusting his hat. Monobear turned to show his primarily white side, and with a sickeningly sweet grin, he just stared at Joseph, which then led to some creepy giggling.

“Upupupu… have fun, or wait, don’t have fun. Just don’t be lazy slackers!” And with a  flash, the bear spun around and vanished into thin air as he had done so often before. There were people scratching their arms and chewing at the fingernails. There was always an awkward silence whenever the bear disappeared.

“Ok, but for real, does anyone know how he does that?” Peter’s hands were hanging in the air gesturing to the blank space where Monobear once stood. When no one spoke up, he then spoke again, this time with a small grin. “Well I guess if you DID know, that would make you the mastermind, right?”

_Mastermind…_ The words seemed to hit Abbie like a raindrop on a sunny day. She’d thought about someone on the outside controlling the annoying bear, but she hadn’t considered the possibility that one of the other students might be controlling Monobear. _Mastermind… I’m not the mastermind… am I? No, I can’t be the mastermind. I didn’t make this game, or at least, if I did I can’t remember it. But I guess I can rule out at least one of us here, that being myself…_

Abbie snapped out of her haze to find that people were going off in groups. Someone must’ve spoken and “dismissed” them to explore the school more. Abbie looked around to see that Peter and Kristen were without major clusters of groups. She approached them, looking over to see Ellie, Nate, and Charles in one group, Ian, Bailey, Kayla, and Emily in another, Joseph, Lexi, and Hans in a third group, and a fourth group comprised of Logan, Maria, and Erica. Shrugging, she approached the Mathematician and Director. “You two mind if I join you guys?”

With a gentle smile and the flap of her bow, Kristen nodded. “Of course, Abbie. I don’t mind at all. We could use someone with knowledge of, uhm, plants, right?”

“Yeah, plants, haha…” Abbie was a bit ashamed that her talent wasn’t something that Kristen was able to remember off the top of her head, but she found a bit of courage knowing that Kristen at least remembered her name.

“Yeah dude,” Peter piped up, “I mean, given our skills, maths, plants and directing skills, which I just assume means a lot of leaderships skills and general knowledge, there’s nothing that can stand in our way!”

“You seem pretty optimistic.” Said Abbie, deadpan.

“How am I supposed to be? Sad and confused? I think Hans is filling that role pretty nicely.” _Damn, talk about snark_.

“Well you guys? Should we maybe take a look around the various classrooms?” Kristen suggested. Abbie looked to Peter nodding.

“Maybe the thoroughly uninteresting places actually have something in them!” Peter’s strange way of speaking, as if he were genre savvy was a bit off putting for Abbie. _Why does he even bother talking like this? It’s like he’s done something like this or something…_ With a shrug, Abbie followed Kristen and Peter out of the cafeteria, into the main hall, and down one of the many maze-like hallways.

The trio of students walked down the various hallways, entering and exiting classrooms in an almost robotic fashion. Bookcases were inspected for random secret doors, desk drawers were opened and closed, and floor tiles were repeatedly kicked with Abbie’s strong heel. However, the rooms were all very bland and unoriginal, with very little note-worthy things inside. All had some form of long sprawling window that showed nothing but an overcast sky and a a snowy terrain, multiple sets of flimsy desks, various hangers and shelves for jackets, which Abbie found strange given that the entire campus seemed to be indoors, and a long chalkboard in the front of the room. In some of the romos, the chalk on the board had yet to be erased, leaving various scrawls of some illegible handwriting from a possible class, but to Abbie, it seemed strange to think that class had been held in the rooms recently. Even with the few chalk musings, the boards had a thin layer of dust on them, regardless of what was on them. There were also a few extra bookcases or couches in some special rooms, but they yielded no findings. However, there were a few constants in all the room. Each room held, a few small security cameras _So Monobear can watch us, of course_ , a video panel that displayed the current time, and a PA speaker.

After the ninth room, Kristen spoke up. “Do either of you think there might be something of use in these rooms? Or are we utterly wasting our time?”

“Well I mean, it can’t hurt to explore everything. There’s no recursive properties to the rooms I don't think.”

“Wait, Peter, what do you mean?”

“Well Kristen, I mean that just because one room is empty doesn’t mean they all are. We might be able to uncover something neat if we explore all the rooms.”

“Except that you said that five rooms ago.” With an exasperated sigh Kristen continued. “Look, as much as I’d like to cover all the bases myself, who’s to say that the rest of the group might already have found something?”

“Uh guys?” Abbie’s voice was quieter, but its firm tone was able to penetrate Peter and Kristen’s conversation. “I don’t wanna interrupt your argument, but I say we look at one more room, and then head back to the main hall. That way, we sort of meet the best of both worlds.” The two students looked at her, then back at each other. With a sigh, Peter nodded, as did Kristen, and the three of them entered the next room.

Like the rest of the rooms, they found: one sprawling window, one messy chalkboard, countless flimsy desks, hooks for jackets, a video camera, a video clock, and a PA speaker. However, two things were different about this room. The first being that a single book remained on the bookshelf that leaned up against the back wall, and the second being a small air vent that was situated on the wall above the bookshelf. Kristen was pleasantly surprised by the small alteration from the past. Peter was right, the room was different.

Their attentions were first brought to the lone book on the shelf. Abbie grasped the book and read the plain cover of the book “What is it?” asked a curious Kristen. “A clue maybe?” With a small snort, Abbie turned to show Kristen and Peter the cover of the book.

The book was not a clue. The book showed a picture of the rear end of Monobear, and was aptly titled “Everyone Poops”. Laughing slightly, Abbie replaced the book on the shelf, half disappointed in the lack of clues, half laughing out of confusion that such a book existed.

The group’s focus was then directed towards the small vent. _Maybe this one won’t be a shitty clue_. The vent was a very small metal frame with a few slits that could be opened and closed depending on how they were pushed. One of the side hinged also seemed to be a bit rusty, which shouted to Abbie that someone could enter this vent if they so desired.

“Hey guys, who feels like a cool person?”

“Huh?” asked a perplexed Kristen

“What I mean is, I’m pretty sure one of us could get into this vent. I would but I’m claustrophobic.”

Kristen looked down, ashamed Abbie thought. “I’d volunteer myself but…” Abbie then brought her gaze down to Kristen’s and realized that Kristen was referring to the fact that because of her large endowment, she likely would have trouble moving through without getting stuck.

“That’s fine.” Peter spoke up, happy to help. “I’ve already been in the trash chute, I can handle a space like that fine.” Peter strolled up to the bookcase and climbed it while Abbie and Kristen held either side to prevent it from wobbling. When he reached the top, the gave the frame a few swift punches and then threw the broken grate on the ground, which Kristen brought to a tiny waste bin so that they didn’t litter.

“Alright, so I’m just gonna see where this takes me. Hopefully I don’t reach any major dead ends, because then I might be stuck.”

Worried, Kristen gave a slight nod, then, prodding his rear end, spoke up. “Good luck Peter… if you die in there, we’ll rule it a suicide, right?”

“You probably shouldn’t joke about that, Kristen.” spoke up Abbie perhaps overchastizingly. She looked at Abbie for a moment, her face differing from the messy chalkboards.

With a shake of her head, Kristen responded. “Yeah… now that you mention it, I suppose you have a point. It would be like joking about having a fish in front of a starving bear who lacks a lower jaw.”

“Sorry?”

“I mean that it’s in poor taste.”

“Hey guys?” Peter interjected. “I’m gonna go crawl now, ok?” With a reassuring nod, Abbie watched Peter slowly army crawl his way through the vent, making small banging and clanging noses against the metal as he went. Soon the small bumps faded into silence leaving the two girls standing awkwardly alone in the room.

“Do you think it was smart of us to let him go off on his own after that one comment about there being a mastermind?” Kristen asked the question in a subdued manner, as if she thought that Peter might still hear her. The thought hadn’t crossed Abbie’s mind, but she wasn’t too concerned.

“I think we’d oughta give him the benefit of the doubt, don’t you think?” With an earnest, yet skeptical nod, Kirsten agreed.

And then the two stood there in silence once again.

After another brief period, Abbie began inspecting the girl opposite her. Abbie took a look at Kristen’s complicated coat, the bow in her hair, he bleached white jeans, and then began a conversation to pass the time. “So what inspired your outfit?”

“Sorry?” The question struck Kristen as if it had come out of nowhere, which, in theory, it did.

“I mean your jacket being super formal and then you’ve got these really stark white jeans. Like I wanna know what inspired your look.”

Kristen was a bit taken aback at the question. _Oh shit, did I just offend her or something?_ She brushed a bit of unseeable dust from her breast and then spoke. “Well I could ask the same of you. I mean, you’re wearing, what a long sleeved purple shirt with rolled up sleeves and athletic shorts?”

“It’s really easy to move around in these clothes.” Abbie didn’t want to make the situation at all hostile, so she met responded to Kristen’s question, rather than pressing Kristen. “Let me ask you this, if you were out in the sun all day working on plants and gardening and whatnot, would you want to be covered in a bunch of heavy clothes?”

“No…” Kristen mused, “I suppose you wouldn’t. But what about a laboratory setting? Surely you’ve got to be wearing more than just what you do now.”

“I mean, I wear a labcoat and goggles, but that’s about it. If I had a lab coat I think the whole ‘botanist’ vibe would be a lot more explainable.” Abbie laughed at this statement. “Right now I look like some ‘Ultimate Soccer Star’ or something. Haha... even the dirt kind of makes sense.”

“And your tattoo?” Kristen was referring to the large artistic compass rose that covered Abbie’s left upper leg.

“Oh that? Well I just got it once I turned eighteen. I guess I like to travel and this kind of reflects that.”

“Yes… yes, I suppose it does.” Kristen began to stare off into space as she spoke. “It’s kind of direct, don’t you think?”

“Sorry?”

“I mean, you like to travel so you get a compass rose on your leg. It seems pretty straightforward if you think about it.”

“Well yeah,” stammered Abbie, “I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna tattoo the words ’I LIKE TO TRAVEL’ down my leg.”

Kristen backed up slightly, sticking her arms up at the slight confrontation. “No, no, I mean… erm, how do I put this… I guess what I’m trying to say is that if I were in your spot, I would’ve gotten something much more dissectable.”

“Dissectable?” Once again, Abbie wasn’t sure to make of Kristen’s word choice.

“I mean something deeper and more artsy? I mean a compass rose implies travel, so it’s pretty easy. I think I would get a frame of a place I visited once… maybe a nice sunset? Something unexpected.”

“I can see why the call you the Ultimate Director.” Abbie said with a laugh, perhaps to relieve any lingering tension.

“Or maybe I’d get a snake that has different designs dependent on location varieties… hmmm” Kristen was still stuck on the tattoo idea, and Abbie compliment had flown right over her head. “Well now, did you say something about my talent?”

“Yeah, I was just saying I can see why they call you the Ultimate Director… did you choose your outfit because of the talent?”

“Oh this?” Kristen asked, gesturing to her jacket. _Finally, guess we had to get her talking before we can just ask any random question._ “Well this peacoat exudes a level of authority and haughtiness, but the jeans still let me be a younger person. I don’t want to look like I’ve got a stick up my- well, you know.” Abbie nodded, and knew exactly what Kristen meant. “I’m sure you know what it’s like, trying to be authoritative in your field, despite yourself.”

“Yeah… I do actually. I suppose we’ve got that in common, huh?”

“Yes, two strong women working in a field full of men. God bless it, it’s hard to be taken seriously sometimes.”

The two smiled, stared at each other for a moment, then gave each other a strange, yet comforting hug. The embrace was gentle, and when the two released, they looked to see a very confused, disoriented and bleeding Peter standing the doorway.

“Er, I didn’t want to interrupt anything, so I didn’t speak up, but it looks like you two had some quality bonding time.” Peter said with a grin crossed with a pained grimace.

“Peter, what's wrong with your pants?” asked Kristen, with a hand blocking her gaze out of embarrassment, but still peering toward him. Abbie looked to see what Kristen had commented on, only to find that Peter’s pants were harshly ripped. Additionally, the pants were lined with light pink splotches, and was able to see Peter’s plain gray boxer briefs as well as a bit of a what seemed to be a bulge emanating from one of the tears. Embarrassed by the lewdness of it all, she also made an effort to avert her gaze.

“Lemme explain it and then it’ll make sense why my pants are kind of shredded.” Peter caught his breath, and then spoke again. “The vent seemed to be lined with a few screws with sharp edges and whatnot, that gave me a few nasty cuts. I don’t think anyone would be able to travel through there without getting some kind of injury. Anyways, I followed it for a bit until I found a weird flapping vent. When I pushed through it, I actually fell into the main hall area with the spiral stairs and everything. It was a pretty sizable fall too, but luckily, I know how to land while reducing pain, so it was ok.” Abbie always found herself slightly bothered by this boy’s lackadaisical attitude towards general danger, but she listened on. “But like, I’m pretty sure you could open the flap from either end?” Peter then scratched his arm uncomfortably. “And now with all that said, can I go and change, I’m pretty sure there’s something awkward about me that I’m not seeing and I’d rather not walked around with bloodstained shorts all day.” The two girls agreed, and accompanied him back to the main hall, where Peter then departed from the group.

“You think he knew we could see his crotch?” asked Kristen sheepishly.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. And, uh, let’s leave it at that.”

“Deal. ” Kristen then faked a yawn while speaking. “I think… I might go take a nap for a bit.” and with those words, she quickly descended the stairs, out of Abbie’s vision.

_… Is she going to…? No. Abbie. Get your mind out of the gutter._

 

Looking around, Abbie didn’t seem to see anyone outright searching for things, or anyone for that matter. Her group had finished up searching for clues, and Abbie found she had quite a bit of free time on her hands, given that she had no chores to do. As such, she began exploring the building for people to spend time with.

_FREE TIME START… or something like that. God why do I even say things like that? It’s not like anyone is even bothering reading my mind._

With a whimsy, Abbie danced down the spiral stairs. As she swung herself down and around the banister, she paused to find Peter coming out of his room in a new pair of pants. _Should I spend time with Peter? It couldn’t hurt… Sure. Let’s do it._

“Nice moves, you take lessons in flying down sets of stairs?” asked the mathematician with a snarky grin plastered on his visage.

“N-no, not really. I was just having fun”

“Ahahaha, no worries dude. Between you and me, when no one else is looking, I do the same.” he said with an earnest grin. _Peter seems to be a wild mess of tones hopping from sarcastic to earnest like that. I wonder what we should talk about? Or will he even want to spend time with me?_

“So, uh, you doing anything right now?” The question caught Abbie with her pants down, figuratively. “I don’t wanna be hanging out all by my lonesome when we’re all supposed to be killing each other.”

“Oh, uh, actually I was going to ask the same.” Abbie said while look at the gray walls.

“Neat!” The boy had a shimmer in his eyes, like he had been unsure of his chances of spending time with Abbie. “You wanna go hang out somewhere that isn’t the boring dorm floor?”

“Want to go to the Talent Rooms?” Abbie asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Yeah sure, you can show me yours, and you can check out mine!” And with those words, the two of them made their way towards the stairs.

Abbie watched as the boy looked at the stairs for a moment and then took a step on the first step, only to then skip every other stair as he bounded upwards. Abbie then paused to think about how she ended up climbing the stairs, only to find that she went about them by going rather quickly one at a time, making sure that she never put both feet on the same step.

“Hey, Peter, why did you climb the stairs like that?” The boy turned to Abbie from the top of the steps.

“Like what? You mean skipping a step?”

“Yeah, why did you do that, if you were gonna step on the first step?”

“Oh yeah, that!” Peter’s ever present smile seemed to arrange itself into a more focused smirk. “Basically I have this game right? As I approach a flight of stairs, I try to count how many steps there are so that I can skip over a step and reach the top without adjusting for error.”

“So like,” Abbie paused for a second, furrowing her brow. “Basically you wouldn’t step on the bottom step if there were an even number of steps?”

“Pretty much! Take these steps as an example. There are fifteen right?  If I’m trying to land on the top without stepping on the penultimate step, I would have to step on the first one. It’s a fun evens and odds game.” With another, more subdued, smirk, Peter then posed a question.

“So then, suppose you’re at the bottom of a large flight of stairs and you can’t seem to distinguish how many steps there are. For all intents and purposes, you could assume there are a definite, yet undefined, number of steps and there’s a top you’re trying to reach. Playing my game with my rules, which do you think it would be smarter to do for your first move in order to ‘win’?”

Abbie stared blankly at Peter in response to his question. She searched his face to see if this was a joke, and when it was clear that he seemed to be quizzing her, she thought about the question a bit. _Well in theory there should be a 50/50 chance at being right regardless of your option… but is it really that simple?_ With a bit of uncertainty, Abbie responded with her answer. “I… I don’t think it matters, right? It’s a fifty-fifty shot for you to get it right or wrong… You’re just guessing right?”

“Bingo! Way to take a third option!” Peter seemed pleased by Abbie’s answer. “Truth is that I really don’t know if there’s a solution to this problem or not. As such, I like to present it to people to see who likes to overthink things.”

“Well aren’t you crafty” Abbie’s voice was laced with snark.

She hadn’t noticed though, but as they had been speaking they had entered into the clearing for the talent rooms and once again, Abbie couldn’t help but beam. The two of them moved to Abbie’s door first and when Abbie raised her door, she saw Peter’s eyes drift across the room observing the various fixtures and plants. After spending some time looking at the various tools on the wall, she asked if she could see his room. Her request was met with happy compliance and the two left, making sure Abbie’s door was sealed tight before leaving.

When Peter placed his hand on the sensor and door rose, Abbie watched as saw what looked to be a slightly more interesting classroom. There were lots of clean whiteboards with dry erase markers, as well as a few powerful-looking computers. She saw also various bookshelves lined with what looked to be tons of mathematics literature, and upon inspecting a book titled “Differential Geometry for Dummies” she found herself carefully leaving through pages depicting various strange shapes. She closed the book to look at the room’s owner. She saw a shimmer in his eyes that wasn’t quite the same as it was before. It was as if the boy were surrounded by his passion in life, and abbie had to admire that much. _Maybe this is how I look to some people whenever I’m in my room._

There wasn’t much else to really see in the room, but that didn’t stop Peter from creating conversation.

“You know, I’m kind of surprised that I was given the title ‘Ultimate Mathematician’.”

Abbie was a bit perplexed. She had seen Pete’s passion for maths, so it seemed odd to her that he would be “Ultimate anything else”. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I just mean that Maths are like the one thing that haven’t really come naturally… they’re something that I worked for... you know?”

“I think so, but you’ll need to elaborate.”

“Ok well,” Peter began, “tell me Abbie, have you always been interested in plants? Has your drive to learn more always come to you like you were born to do something?”

Abbie hadn’t really ever thought about the question before, though, she hadn’t considered herself an “Ultimate Botanist” up until the day prior. “Well, I did work for it a bit, but yeah, I guess you could say that my interest and skills in studying plants and botany came a bit more naturally to me.

“See? There are two kinds of people in this world. People born with talent, and people who have to work hard… though the two aren’t mutually exclusive.” _This is sounding like some kind of evil monologue about how he wants to strip everyone of their talents or titles or something._ “I guess it just motivates me to a be a better person, all things considered.” With a gesture that looked like he was finished talking, he turned to Abbie and smiled.

_Well I guess I feel like I know this guy a little better now… though that was a lot of “character development” for just one interaction._

 

Abbie returned to the Main Hall area to find that she still had plenty of free time before the “Night Time” announcement. Of course, she didn’t want to be alone, but she didn’t really know where anyone else was in the sprawling campus. However, the problem was quickly resolved upon entering the cafeteria.

As Abbie went into the kitchen to prepare whatever food might be readily available, she found Bailey and Nate talking in one of the cafeteria, at a small table made for two people. Abbie wasn’t terribly hungry and so she waited a bit before cooking, and approached the two boys.

"Hey guys, whatcha talking about?”

Bailey looked at Abbie, then back at Nate. With an enigmatic nod from Nate, the two turned the chairs they were sitting in towards Abbie. Nate then proceeded to speak.“We were just talking about the bathrooms and how cheap they are.”

Abbie laughed at this, looking at the small singe on her hand from the morning. “You’re telling me…. What did you guys find?”

“Well,” began Bailey, “since Nate’s gotta clean bathrooms for his chores, I offered to help him after my group finished exploring, except, even with two people, the process takes a while.”

“Yeah,” Nate compounded with a dry tone “and you have to make sure someone isn’t a total klutz who busts open pipes when he isn’t looking.”

“Hey! I thought we agreed to keep that a secret!”

“...Shit,” Nate said, conflicted. “You're right.” Leaning in towards Abbie, perhaps to intimidate her or perhaps to earnest direct his request, Nate started. “So, what do you say Abbie? Care to keep our little secret?” Without backing away Abbie give him a firm and solemn nod, and like that the tension was resolved. “Glad to hear it.” Nate said, relaxed as he sat back down. “Truth be told, you’d think that the people who built this school would have made it a bit less… well, cheap. I mean, Bailey, you basically just bumped into a pipe near the sink, right?” With a guilty smile Bailey responded affirmatively.

“Did you guys happen to try smashing the tiles in the bathroom at all?”

“Sorry, what?” Nate seemed to be slightly shocked that someone would even bother trying to destroy more of the school property.

“Oh, I mean, someone fell in the showers this morning and left some cracked tile.”

“Really?” Bailey seemed pretty surprised at Abbie’s comment. “You mean to tell me you can just crack that tile with an impact of jumping on it?”

“Well probably not jumping on the tiles, but like, a significant impact would probably do the trick.”

“Either way,” Nate chimed in, “I don’t want to be the one getting chastised for the crappy bathrooms, you know?” The other two people nodded in agreement, and it went unspoken in the group that they weren’t going to mention any of the flaws in the bathing areas they had experienced thus far.

Abbie then went into the kitchen and made herself a sandwich with the various ingredients in the room. She didn’t bother leaving the kitchen to consume her dinner, mainly because she found it most convenient to stay in a single place. But then again, there were also plenty of knives in the drawers in case she needed to defend herself. Abbie’s mind lingered toward the trowel she had removed from her talent room yesterday, but she topped herself. _I’m not committing a murder and no one is going to kill me. No one is going to kill anyone for that matter._ As she ate, the words of death and despair somewhat swirled in her brain, but she wasn’t going to let the unnerving reality of the situation get to her.

 

When she exited the kitchen, Nate and Bailey had disappeared and with two and a half hours before night time, Abbie began wandering about once again, in lighted parts of the school, in attempts to find someone. After a bit of walking, Abbie found herself in front of the doors to the topiary and sculpture garden. As she opened it, she had to squint to adjust her eyes to the brightness of the room. She hadn’t noticed it before, but the room seemed to always be coated in a thick layer of artificial sunshine. _I wonder if you could get a tan in here?_ Abbie scanned the area to see someone standing off in the corner of the area atop a hill, so Abbie made her way towards the figure.

As Abbie drew closer to the figure she could identify her. It was Maria, who seemed to be kneeling down inspecting something. _I wonder… should I spend the rest of my day with Maria? Hmm… I guess I don’t see any harm in doing so._

“Hey, Maria! Whatcha up to?” Abbie's go-to words startled Maria, but upon seeing Abbie again, she relaxed and smiled.

“Oh, it’s only you. I was afraid it was someone trying to come up behind me and stab me in the back, because of course that would happen to me on a day like this since nothing could make this day worse.” _Maria the motormouth ladies and gentlemen._

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think I would've called your name if I were going to kill you. And I don’t have any plans of killing anyone.” Abbie said with a smile. “But it sounds like you’re having a rough day? How’s your side feeling after your spill this morning?”

With a demeanor that suggested discomfort Maria spoke. “I’m alright. That fall might leave a bruise on my thigh, but I’m not worried about that. I guess I just miss home is all. I miss my babies a lot and it’s been rough not being able to spend time with them. Even with my talent room being a stable… there aren’t horses in there at all… It’s just sad.”

“Sounds like you spend a lot of time with your horses?”

Maria seemed a bit annoyed at Abbie’s softball question. “Well YEAH, horses are kind of my entire life. I mean, I compete with horses and I train horses, and I raise horses and I have to put horses in the ground when they die. I race horses too, and they seem to listen to me… like we’ve got a psychonic relationship or whatever you call it.” As Maria rambled on and on, Abbie found herself getting tired, and sat herself down on the slope so that, under normal circumstances, she’d be watching the clouds. She was surprised to see that despite still talking, Maria seemed to mimic Abbie’s actions. “The thing is that I’m so good that I’ve basically reinvented how people raise racing horses. Like, I’m a jockey and a breeder all in one and that should have people calling me the ‘next evolution’ of horse racing, right? And I guess I’m well liked and everything. Like to the point where I have my very own acronym.”

“Your own acronym?”

“Yeah. People call me FFGCMMC, Fan-Favorite-Game-Changer-Maria-May-Chevette. May’s my middle name in case you cared. Anyways, having your own acronym is cool and all, but I don’t think it really makes people take me seriously. Like, it’s bad. I have rabid fanboys who talk all about my looks and don’t even appreciate the things I bring to the equine scene. It’s so annoying. Like, I’ll go online trying to find analyses of my techniques or reports on me, and instead all I find is like thirty pages of creeps trying to get lewd shots of my boobs. Like, can’t people jsut appreciate me for my talent instead of my looks? I want to be taken seriously.”

“Wow… yeah… I mean, I kind of feel the same sometimes since I’m always surrounded by people who look down on my for my age and gender, but uh…” Abbie said, looking down at her more athletic figure, “I can’t say that I have rabid fanboys trying to get me to post dirty pictures online. _Wow, that was a lot. But y’know, I feel like I learned a little bit about this girl._

 

***Ding Dong Bing Bong***

“Ahem! Attention all students! The time is now 10 P.M. which means it is officially nighttime! As such, the gymnasium and cafeteria are now closed! Pleasant dreams!”

 

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two girls as the sun set in the topiary. “Monobear…” muttered Maria to herself. “Abbie… uh, I don’t wanna be a bother or anything but you don’t mind walking back to the dorms with me right? I don’t want anyone coming and dropping a bridge on me.”

“Only if you promise not to kill me either ok?” Abbie laughed nervously as she spoke, despite knowing full well Maria would agree.

“Deal! And please, don’t joke about that kind of thing.” Maria said, also a bit nervously. _I need to stop joking about someone killing someone else. I mean, I told Kristen not to, and then I do it? Jeez, Abbie, have some consistency._

And so, the two girls left the topiary, the room faded into a night brightness, and the room seemed to be illuminated by the light of a non-existent moon. Abbie gave the room a final look for the day, and then followed Maria out the door. The two girls walked through the maze of, now dark, hallways and found themselves back in the main hall area. The two of them descended the stairs, a bit less energetically for Abbie compared to the last time, and they made their way to Maria’s room

“Well? Goodnight? See you in the morning?” asked Abbie with a small smile.

“Yeah, but again, if I fall in the shower, you can look, but be obvious about it ok? And no pictures. The last thing I need are those leaking online.”

“Of course Maria. Good night.” Maria closed the door to her yellow room and Abbie let out an exasperated sigh. “Jeesh she’s a lot” she said to herself as she walked down the hall to her room. She didn’t find anyone else on her way back, and when she opened the door to her own room, she was happy to find that her room was undisturbed.

Abbie repeated the steps she took the previous night. She once again changed into her loose fitting, little-imagination giving pajamas, threw her old clothes into a pile, removed her hair ties and crawled into her bed. Then, being as tired as she was, realized that she hadn’t actually turned off the lights, so she rose, made her way to the door, locked it. She looked for a switch, but then remembered that the lights seemed to dim when she laid in bed with the door locked. So she then returned to the bed and closed her eyes, and as she waited, the lights slowly dimmed once again. _Why do we not have real light switch in here? I should get Monobear to put one in or something… Who builds a room without light switches…? Ugh… stupid freaking … bear…_

 

_..._

 

And like the lights that faded, Abbie faded off into a deep sleep.

 

 

* * *

 

**MONOBEAR THEATER**

 

“You know that thing where you think you’ve found a cool spot all to yourself? Usually when that happens, you’ll go to the cool spot one day and just find a dead body there. You think you can just hide something where no one will ever find it, but oh look, it’s right next to that corpse on the beach that you went and sunbathed on last week! Sometimes, I wish I had some peace and quiet, but you know, that’s really boring. I’d rather just be able to sit in my studio and watch people kill themselves… hey wait a sec!”

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few fun facts about this chapter:  
> \- I was high off my ass when I wrote the dream sequence.  
> \- I have no shame when it comes to getting a little over the top with "adult" topics. All the characters are, technically young adults.  
> \- I actually added the dialogue between Kristen and Abbie because I realized that I forgot to give her a chance in the spotlight last update.
> 
> I'm aware that there are some characters who have had very little "screentime" (Logan, Ellie, Ian, and Emily as well as a bit with Hans, and Lexi). I can promise you that my goal is to have everyone have a very similar amount of text and appearances by the start of the first class trial.
> 
> As always please leave a comment if you feel so inclined (Predictions, likes/dislikes, ways I can improve etc.) , and if you want me to read your fic, I'll gladly give it a read!


	7. Chapter 1: Run Along Children, The Worst is Yet to Come - Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After one hell of a wait, I present to you the third, and longest part I've written thus far. Obviously things are still all over the place in terms of my schedule and whatnot, but hopefully this is a satisfying read : )
> 
> Shit goes down. You'll like it.
> 
> I suppose I should add a fair trigger warning for this episode for themes like depression and whatnot... though that being said, you're reading a fanfic about kids who kill each other.

 

* * *

 

_All good things must come to an end._

\- Geoffrey Chaucer

 

* * *

 

Abbie awoke from her rest, a nasty nightmare in particular, in a cold sweat. She sat upright, attempting to remember, or perhaps forget,  whatever she had been dreaming about, but when she landscape faded into oblivion, she scratched her hair. Her purple hair was a mess with little sprigs popping up all over the place. The one difficult weed that stood up atop her head hadn’t moved since she had arrived, even after her shower from the previous day. _This stupid hair just doesn’t seem to go down… what the heck…_ She hadn’t bothered with trying to fix it much, but in a slight attempt at normalcy she licked her hand, and attempted to get the uncooperative hair to lay flat. But as if the hair had a mind of its own, the hair sprung back up. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Abbie grabbed a towel and slipped on some flip flops and made her way to the bathrooms once again.

Her shower this morning wasn’t interrupted this time, though Abbie could hear what sounded like someone singing showtunes in a stall across the way. When the warm water turned cool, Abbie turned off the water, and dried off. She lamented the fact that despite the fact that she had to continue on with life as if it were normal in this space, and that she would have to constantly be on guard. This thought had crossed her mind only because she remembered a movie where some popstar was stabbed in the shower, as she had let her guard down and not expected her killer to act the way they did. As Abbie dried her hair, she waved her hand above her head, and sure enough, the angry hair was standing on end with a slight curve from the humidity. With an angry sigh, Abbie went about preparing herself for the day in the bathroom.

After a thorough teeth brushing, and more attempts at fixing her hair, Abbie returned to the dimly lit hallway. She didn’t see anyone else wandering about, so she went and strolled over to the stairs to see if there were any signs of life. The fact that she had hardly any clothes didn’t cross her mind as she was too busy observing her surroundings. She meanered over to the two doors, the trash bag room and the splittery door, but was quickly discouraged due to the rancid smell emanting from the trash room. She retreated and made her way back to her room, as dry as she had entered the bathroom. She turned the knob on the door, whilst staring at her towel, making sure that it covered a respectable portion of her body. She entered the room and closed the door behind her-

“Hey you! Plant geek! A **bear** -y happy mornin’ to ya!” The squeaky voice was one Abbie knew all too well in these past two days. She stopped, and nearly dropped her towel, but made an effort to make sure the bear didn’t see her nude.

“What the hell are you doing here?! This is my room! I LOCKED! THE DOOR!” The Anger was substantiated with a nervous laugh, as Abbie was still worried about revealing herself to the plush toy.

“Oh, you mean you weren’t expecting me? You didn’t think your dean of students cared about your well being? Well I’ll have you know that that bar- **bear** -ic. And besides! Despite your angry explosion about me yesterday, I think you’re my favorite girl here! Isn’t that just a great accomplishment?” Abbie looked at the bear and rolled her eyes. The bear was lying is if he wanted to be painted like a Parisian woman on Abbie’s bed, and while Abbie couldn’t figure out how to read the bear’s eyes, it seemed as if he wanted her attention. “I mean, you’re not waifu tier by any standards, but that can change if I begin to warm up to you!

“For real Monobear,” started Abbie, irritated, yet reserved, “why the hell are you in my room?”

“See, that’s the funny thing, isn’t it? Does a bear really have to have a reason to want to check up on his students?”

“Somehow, I doubt that”, Abbie said, huffy.

“Well either way, I’m here letting you know, since, again, you’re my favorite girl of the group that I’ll be dropping hella dope motive-bombs today in just a bit! And don’t you be worried, they’ll rock your world for sure!” Abbie froze in her tracks, nearly forgetting to cover herself. _Motive-bombs?_ “But that’s all I can say. A bear’s gotta keep some secrets after all!” And with a swivel and a bump the bear vanished into the aether.

Abbie stood, towel still in hand, and stared at her now empty bed, lost in thought. The room wasn’t swirling around her, but she still needed to sit down after hearing the bear’s warning. She made sure to hang up her towel and get dressed as usual (making sure she wasn’t getting peeped on by the sketchy bear), but instead of standing she proceeded to get her hair ready whilst staring entranced at a wall. _He’s going to be dropping… Motive… bombs? What did he mean by this? Does he plan on advancing the killing game somehow… maybe he does… shit.  But what the hell can I even do here? I’m just me… I don’t even want to be in charge here do I? That just puts a target on my back._

Abbie couldn’t help but be phased when she heard a small knocking coming from her door. She broke from her trance and she went to the door to find the meek knocker.

“E-excuse me, you d-don’t happen to have any t-t-trash, uh do you? And sorry if you w-weren’t awake… I didn’t wake you d-did I?” It was Hans, pushing a very large wheelbarrow with a few plastic trash bags inside.

“And good morning to you too…” Abbie said, covering her face due to the putrid smell. She turned back to look into her room and then spoke. “I haven’t actually used my trash since I got here, if you can believe it.”

“Oh… uh, s-sorry. I didn’t mean to wake y-you up…”

“No, it’s alright.” She smiled warmly at the pale boy. “I was already awake. Monobear actually paid me a visit this morning…”

“What?!” Hans’ sleepy and awkward expression hardened into a scowl. “That thing was in your room? What, er, w-was he, uh, doing in there?” He set down the wheelbarrow and put his hands on his hips. “You didn’t ask to meet, uh, w-with him, uh, d-did you Abbie?”

Abbie laughed softly at the question. “Like, I’d ever want to talk with that freakshow of a bear. He’s the Ultimate Killjoy.” She expected Hans to lighten at her joke about the Ultimate talents, but instead Hans remained in a scowl. _This guy… he’s pretty weird. I can’t read him at all…_

“Well, uh, I mean at least he’s g-gone now. Right?” Hans’ tone didn’t lighten in the way Abbie thought it would. She expected him to be relieved that the bear had disappeared and wasn’t there presently, but instead he spoke as if the bear were still watching them intently. “U-uh, now if you’ll excuse m-me if that’s ok… I’ve g-gotta, uh, finish my chores…”

“Hey Hans?”

“Uh, y-yes?”

“You might have better luck if you try checking the trash room. I went by there a  little earlier and the smell was terrible. It might be easier than trying to knock on everyone’s doors at this time of day.”

Hans smiled a small, but thankful smile, and then nodded. “T-Thanks… I’ll, uh, do that…. But c-could you do me a favor maybe, if it’s n-not a bother?

“What’s up?”

“W-Well, uh, c-could you tell everyone t-to dump their, uh, their trash in the t-t-trash room from n-now on?” At first the question was a strange one for Abbie, though given Hans’ diminished self-confidence, Abbie understand that his public speaking skills might be lacking.

With a nod and a vote of confidence, she gave a confident affirmation. “I’d be happy to make an announcement at breakfast, sure.”

“Thanks…” With a small nod, Hans exited the scene and made his way towards the middle circle. Abbie closed the door and reentered the the room, half expecting Monobear to be there waiting once again. When the room was as empty as she had left it, she breathed a sigh of relief and plopped down on her bed once again. She closed her eyes, as she was still somewhat tired, and let her mind drift in and out of the looming darkness of sleep.

 

***Ding dong bing bong***

 

“Goooooooooooooooooooooood morning everyone! The time is now 7 AM which means it’s morning time! Get your lazy asses out of bed, it’s going to be a beeeeeeeeautiful day! Let’s give it everything we’ve got!”

The voice was a harsh snap back to reality. In truth, it hadn’t occurred to Abbie that she had woken up before the morning announcements and was already all ready to go. _Jeesh, I can’t even spend five minutes in my room without that bear bothering me today, huh?_ Given that she was prepared for social interaction, Abbie left her room once again, locked the door behind her, and made her way upstairs to the cafeteria.

As she rose the twisted steps, she saw that the red and black clock was flashing, as opposed to remaining a static number. The number on the clock, 24:00:00 was a strange sight to behold, and Abbie kept that image in the back of her head just in case. She also looked around and saw the vent that Peter seemed to have fallen out of the day prior. _That must’ve been one hell of a fall… It’s so high up what the heck._ But the two objects that grabbed her attention were eventually overlooked and ignored as Abbie entered the cafeteria.

She figured she’d be the first person to arrive, but she was decently surprised to find that a group of four students were already sitting at a nearby table and having a decently loud conversation.

“I think I need to have more time with a few people here. I haven’t talked with that plant girl at all.”

“You mean, Abbie, Ian?”

“Yeah. She seems alright, but we haven’t talked much.”

“Well Ian,” said an abnormally perky voice, “You’re not really a guy of that many words are you? I’m sure if you just ask her to spend time with you she’d do it.”

“Well Ellie, it’s not like I’m into her. I only mean that I haven’t talked with her much. That’s all.”

“Ian?”

“Yeah Ellie?”

“You’re repeating yourself again.”

“Shoot, am I?” Abbie could see the big guy get puppy dog eyes, and she watched as his face drooped slightly. His arms rubbing his shoulders, and Abbie remembered his habit of reaching for his swords when he felt anxious. “I’ll work on it.” Ian said, disappointed in himself.

Abbie decided to make herself known to the group that had been sitting at the table. The group consisted of Ellie and Ian who had been talking, as well as Charles and Kristen who were enjoying cups of black coffee and black tea respectively. They seemed to be minding their business more or less, so Abbie let them be. She sat down and smiled a tired morning smile and turned herself towards the two.

“So, I hear you wanted to talk with me more.” Her presence seemed to startle Ian, but Ellie was still as cheery as ever. “Well, here I am.” Abbie scratched the dirt patch on her cheek as she spoke. She expected some decent conversation, but surprisingly Ian and Ellie were much less talkative. Abbie sensed this strange silence and inquired, “Did I interrupt something?”

“Uh, no, it’s just that I don’t do well with beginning conversation.” Ian’s excuse seemed valid given his strange awkwardness, but Abbie was still confused as to why Ellie hadn’t bothered starting the small talk.

“You don’t do well starting conversations?” asked Abbie, hesitantly.

“Yeah, I have trouble initiating conversation” replied Ian, slightly more confident than before. “I think it’s just a weird trait of mine.” He shook his head and hair which seemed to flop about uncontrollably. _Maybe it’s the morning but I really am having a hard time talking with this guy_.

“So, uh” Abbie stammered, “How have you two been sleeping the past two days?”

Abbie’s question was directed at the two of them, but to her surprise, it wasn’t Ian who spoke up first, but Ellie. “I’ve been alright. The mattress in my room is a little hard, and I’ve had a few static things with the rough pink carpet in my room, and then there’s the whole pajama situation.” She laughed and Abbie felt she could commiserate, and as such, she nodded. “I mean, I guess I wouldn’t mind if a few guys in the group saw me… maybe that cute tall leader guy...” Ellie said with a lucid grin, which caught Abbie of guard. Still the lucky student continued, “But then again, I guess it wouldn’t be great if I seemed easy… Abbie, you know what I’m going through, right?

Abbie was fumbling over words as it was still fairly early and she ahdn’t eaten yet, but she thought for a moment then spoke. “I think they’re nice sometimes.” She smirked a little when saying her words. “I mean, they’re not something I’d ever wear normally, but I’ve actually slept better than normal in them… outside of the weird dreams I’ve had.”

“Yeah!” chimed Ellie, “I didn’t notice it until you said it, but I’ve slept really well, despite the conditions… maybe it’s just the loose fitting parts that free up my unmentionables.” Ellie spoke with such simplicity and nonchalantness, that Abbie was a little confused. As she was, Abbie was a decently modest person, and she wasn’t used to hearing such a bored tone towards genitals. Clearly she wasn’t the only one either as Ian was redder than Lexi’s crimson lips. And yet, Ellie cheerily spoke on. “When I was at home I usually slept in just a t-shirt and my panties, but this is a nice change, I’ve gotta admit. I guess that makes me pretty fortunate that I’m getting good sleep even in our unlucky conditions.” Abbie wasn’t always one-hundred percent sure of things, but it was pretty clear to her that, like Ian, Ellie had some issues with being aware of other people, not that Abbie minded, though. Unlike Ian, Ellie seemed to be able to make her stories a bit more gripping, which was momentously attractive to Abbie. She was perfectly content with letting Ellie talk, if it meant she could wake up just a bit more.

Abbie scratched her ears and listened on as Ellie slowly rambled about her outside life. First it was about her sleeping habits, followed by her strange camping experience, followed by the time she got sooooooo drunk that she called her cousin at 2:30 crying about how she had ripped the sleeves on her outfit because she had decided it would be a good idea to see if her shirt could hold her from a chandelier. “I guess I'm pretty lucky that it was just my shirt that got damaged, huh?” Abbie nodded and responded affirmatively, though her vision was slightly entranced by a cool brown stain on the wall in the shape of a leaf.

Ellie finished her speech, to which Ian had trouble finding his words. “I, uh, wow. Ellie, you’re a crazy girl, you know that? I mean thseriously, those thstories are, er, those stories are really interesting.” Ian’s lisp was very prevalent, and when he realized what he had said, he seemed to take himself aback and grabbed the hilt of his katana. Abbie saw him and she put her hand on his arm, which seemed to calm him down, if only a little. Abbie then rose and spoke with a bit of woke conviction.

“Alright, well… I’m going to get some food now, if that’s ok.”

“Oh go for it Abbie, we don’t mind it at all. In fact, I should be going too, it’s about time to drop the trash.” responded Ellie with a smile. Abbie wasn’t quite sure if Ellie was being sarcastic or not, but given her friendly visage, she presumed that Ellie was genuine. _She’s pretty nice… I can see why some people might like her as a person._

As Ellie left the cafeteria for the stairs, Abbie went into the kitchen where she found some eggs that looked pretty good, as well as some milk. She whisked them in a bowl and scrambled them and ate that for breakfast. As she did she watched as the rest of her classmates trickled in one by one. _Eh, why not, I’ll fix eggs for everyone else too._ And so Abbie spent the entire morning cracking eggs, stirring the yolks with milk, and cooking them until they were a bit darker than she would’ve liked. As she cooked.

She watched as Lexi stumbled into the kitchen mumbling to herself. “Ugh… there better be some fucking coffee or something… fucking hell.”  She had rather large bags under her eyes, and abbie wondered if the Dancer had slept at all the previous night.

“You need any help Lexi?”

“Don’t talk to me.” The words were blunt and abrupt, but coming from Lexi, Abbie likened them words to a disgruntled “good morning”.

“If you want, I’ve made eggs. There’s plenty here if you want some.”

“I appreciate it, but I’m not eating any fucking eggs. I’m here to polish the fucking silverware.”

“Oh… right.” As Abbie didn’t have any chores in which to take part, she had forgotten that they had even existed in the first place, despite Hans knocking on her door earlier that morning. “I’d offer to help you, Lexi, but I’m a little busy cooking and stuff.” Lexi just rolled her eyes, out of ire at the fact that she had a chore to do in the first place.

Breakfast was eventually served, and plates of slightly burnt eggs were consumed and washed.

“Abbie, THANKS a ton for the food. It’s GREAT.”

“They’re a bit crunchy, but I think they’re alright, I guess.”

“Abbie darling, you may not be the Ultimate Cook, but your efforts are appreciated.”

The kind words from Logan, Erica, and Kayla were enough to make Abbie feel appreciated enough for the day.

She cleaned the rest of the rest of the breakfast wares and when she entered the main area, she found everyone else was sitting at a round table. The only other seat seemed to be in front of a strange black and white pillar. Abbie then sat down in the spot next to her classmate, as her spot was next to Erica and Ellie, and she was facing across the way to see Peter picking at his fingernails. As she adjusted her legs so that they sat comfortably, she saw Logan fiddling with multiple colored markers and what looked like a napkin, and when he finished doodling, he turned the scrap for all to see.

“THERE, now that I’ve drawn a layout of who all is sitting where at the table, I think it would be cool if we framed it or something!” Logan’s colorful, yet hasty drawing was a little pointless to Abbie. Yet, she looked around to see the rest of the group was generally pleased with the seating arrangement. Of course, there wasn’t much to say about a simple napkin drawing, so Abbie held her tongue.

The group fell silent once everyone finished murmuring about the various morning activities. The talks of chores quickly dissipated, and the various small talk of how people slept quickly evaporated. The uncomfortable silence was thick and unwelcoming, as if the group themselves were all silently judging each other. _It’s so weird that even though It’s been two days, we still can’t even trust each other…_ Abbie’s thoughts seemed to be shared by the others, as she could tell by looking at a few different faces around the round table.

The silence seemed hard pressed for Ellie, who began to speak. “Well, since we’re all here, and no one’s got anything better to do, how about we play two truths and a lie?”

Logan was quick to respond. “And what’s the point in that, exactly? It sounds like a dumb icebreaker.”

“Well Logan,” Ellie said, still smiling, “This dumb icebreaker might ease some tension.  Plus, like, that way you can trust each other!”

“It’s an alright idea… I guess.” Erica picked at a hangnail uncomfortably as she spoke. I’ve got nothing better to do, like you said.” The reaction seemed to elicit some smiles from people, which prompted others to speak up.

“Yeah! I like the idea!” Emily’s perky voice confirmed a lot of what people were already thinking. “Besides, like, I hardly know some of ya, and I think it would be reeeeeeally good to learn about all your livesies!” She laughed at her botched sentence and strange vocabulary, not needing a correction. The rest of the group followed suit, and Abbie watched as the looks of inquisition and self-contemplation arose from the various students sitting around the circumference of the table.

Ellie began again. “Since I suggested the idea, I hope no one minds if I start.” When there was no response, Ellie listed her statements.”Well then… let’s see. My first statement is that I've never broken a single bone in my entire body, my second is that I was once stuck in a trashbag by a kidnapper, but was saved when there happened to be a random shard of glass in the bag, and my third is that my older brother has terrible luck!” As she spoke, Abbie noticed Ellie’s perpetual smile break upon mentioning her a bone being broken. _That’s probably  it… let’s see who else maybe picks up on that facial cue._ Abbie peered around the table to see Bailey and Maria visibly thinking, while Ian seemed to be staring into his hands.

She was about to speak up when Hans broke the small silence. “Uh… I think I know…” Abbie was a little surprised to hear Hans of all people speak up, but nonetheless, she kept her mouth shut. “You b-broke your, um, p-pinky finger, didn’t you?”

Ellie was taken aback at the sheer specificity of the sputtered answer. With a hesitant pause, she grinned. “Wow, uh, yeah. You hit the nail  right on the head Hans… but how did you figure that out so specifically?”

“Well, uh, you s-see, uh, your pinky on your… uh, your right hand… it, uh, it juts out a-a-little f-funny, you know?”

“Haha, yeah! It was when I was selected to go onstage a magic show, but the trick failed. Luckily, instead of being killed, I was able to get away with just a broken pinky finger!” She laughed while she spoke, but Abbie was a bit shocked at how easily the pink-clad girl was able to laugh at a life-threatening situation. “Alright Hans, your turn!”

Hans looked around for a moment, unsure of how to being. It was clear he was well-prepared for the moment, but his stammer complicated things. “Uh, let’s see… so I h-h-have four brothers… and uh f-four sisters, and I’m the youngest of the nine… or I once s-s-s-saw a g-guy’s h-head get r-r-run over by an ambulance, or that my favorite color is n-navy b-blue.” Hans proceeded to look downwards immediately upon speaking, as if he had said something wrong. ONce again Abbie felt that she was able to easily identify Hans’ lie, though she wasn’t really sure how she knew. It was her intuition that he was lying about the gruesome ambulance scene, but she couldn’t place why.

“HEY guys, I’VE got it!” Logan was speaking up a bit boisterous. “Hans is lying about all of them AND his talent! “ Logan’s non sequitur was met with cold air, though Abbie could tell that some people didn’t want to admit that Logan had a small point. “Well Hans? What is it?” Abbie could feel her blood begin to heat in anger at the strange confrontation.

“Woah, hey.” Abbie rose up in defense of Hans. “What the hell man? Where did that come from? Why did you do that?” Abbie’s barrage of questions was met with a flimsy resistance from Logan.

“It was just a QUESTION about why he hasn’t bothered sharing his talent. That’s all.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to hijack this whole fun and games time!”

With a roll of his eyes, Logan backed down. “Fine, whatever… I don’t know his lie if anyone CARES.” _Is he aware of how he can’t seem to properly modulate his own voice? Eurgh._

The now quiet room was once again uncomfortable. Or at least, it was very uncomfortable until one lanky marksman spoke up. “Well, to go back to Hans’ thing, that’s pretty easy. Clearly you like the color blue, and your lack of certainty of things seems to suggest that you were always overshadowed as a kid. Which therefore would suggest that you’re lying about seeing someone’s head get run over by an ambulance. Side note, what the hell Hans?” Abbie agreed with Hans’ analysis, and based on the look on Hans’ face, Nate was right.

Hans nodded with affirmation, and then he turned his head away. “Guess i-it was too easy… uh… yeah?” He seemed to shrink with every word he said.

Nate opened his mouth to speak, when a shrill voice rang out from atop the table. Like he had done so many times before in the two days the group had been there, Monobear suddenly deposited into their midst. “Hooooooly crapola you idiots are boring to watch. I mean seriously, you guys think you’re so fun with your little get to know you games… it’s DISGUSTING AND UN- **BEAR** -ABLE.”

“But Monobear…” protested Emily, “you were the one who told us to do these weird and kinda fun games…”

“Yeah, well that got boring, so playtime’s over, buckos. I’ve got a motive for you all. You better like it too because I’m not giving you a nicer one!” A wave of dread splashed over the sixteen students sitting around the table. _He’s giving us a motive… like to kill each other? Oh my god._ No one spoke as they waited for Monobear’s next statement, though their silence seemed to catch the bear off guard. “What? No one feels like trying to guess what my first motive is? Wow, and here I thought you all were actually supposed to be Ultimates.”

“Yeah, well,” began Abbie, “none of us are Ultimate Motive Guessers or anything.”

“Oh Abbie, your words seem to puncture my bear-y soul.” The bear once again waited for someone, but when it was clear he wasn’t going to get a response from anyone sitting around the table, he then spoke a little more angrily than before. “Well here’s what. I’m a very impatient bear. You know how they talk about all the grizzlies anxiously waiting salmon as they go up a waterfall… well to hell with that, I can’t wait that long! So therefore I’m gonna give you bastards some incentive to kill!”

Monobear snapped his paws, somehow, and a hatch in the ceiling of the cafeteria opened up. From the gap slid down a large rectangular clock with the display reading “24:00:00”. It was a ghastly sight as the sixteen students seemed to grasp the implications of this number.

_It’s a countdown clock! Does that mean… that if we don’t kill someone before the clock reaches zero we all die?_

“Since none of youse like guessing or anything else fun, I’ll explain this to y’all!” Monobear hesitated, and Abbie made out that the bear muttered something along the line of “killjoys” to himself. She found this funny, if not still incredibly ominous, and as such, her face remained neutral. “As you might’ve already guessed, you all have until this clock runs out to kill someone else. Once one kill happens, this clock will stop and you’ll then all be able to go on a fun scavenger hunt for the body!”

“Erm, Monobear?” asked Kristen hesitantly. “Should we fail to kill someone within the time period, can we assume that bad things will happen?”

“Assume? Like make an ass outta yourself? Yeah, you can!” Monobear chuckled with delight at the inquiry. “If this clock reaches zero, I’ve laid several explosives around this school that’ll all go off, making sure to kill each and every one of youse! Doesn’t that just fill you with anxiety and dread?”

Abbie began to sweat the mention of the explosives. She didn’t want to die, but she also didn’t know if she could really ever bring herself to do something as desperate as kill one of the other people sitting around the big round table. With a smaller group it might be possible, but there were too many people for her to even consider plotting a murder. _I know it’s a fallacy, but there’s the whole fallacy of the idea that someone else in the group will do it if the group is big enough… fuck, what was that idea again? Gah… I can’t remember._ She peered to look at ellie, who sat next to her. She saw as Erica chewed her nails anxiously and, subconsciously, Abbie reached her arm around the girl to support her.

“So yeah, you frickin’ fricks better have a dead body on your hands by this time tomorrow or you’ll all bite the dust! And no, you’re not gonna go back in time if you can figure out my secret. That only happens in bizarre adventures, not killing games! Happy trails!”

The room was no uncomfortably quiet as the seconds on the display slowly ticked down. The 24:00:00 had now become 23:58:52, and still no one moved. The shuffling was a silent breeze that seemed to cool no one’s heated anxiety. In fact, Abbie wasn’t sure anyone was going to move until she heard Peter speak up.

“Soooooo, I guess that’s the end of two truths and a lie, huh?” His voice had penetrated the silence and suddenly people began to speak up and move about.

“I’m gonna go hang out in my student room and play with my horsies so that I don’t have to feel scared!” Maria’s declaration of motive seemed to spark something in Abbie. _Yeah… we shouldn’t let this get of us. Monobear’s just bluffing… and if he isn’t I’d rather have my last day of life be spent doing fun things… not that I’m resigned to dying, but uh… shit, I don’t wanna die._

“HEY GUYS, don’t run off just yet.” Logan stopped Maria before she could leave the cafeteria. “Why don’t we stick it to the bear and have a rager tonight. Like straight up. If we’re ALL gonna die, might as well have fun with it… RIGHT?”

“A… rager? Like a large party?” asked Kayla, massaging her chin as she spoke.

“YEAH. A big party, a rager, a banger. What, have you never been to a party before?”

“Well, I’ve been to various galas and gatherings…” she paused. “But, well, I’ve never been to a trashy romp.” Kayla seemed embarrassed to admit her lack of experience, and Logan seemed to be taken aback by Kayla’s use of the word trashy.

“Hey now, who said anything about being trashy? It would be a FUN time before we all die, right?”

“Hey, he’s right. Let’s fuckin’ do this” chimed in Lexi. _Clearly she’s interested in the idea of some kind of party. I guess it can’t hurt… right? An innocent party could be pretty fun._

“And it gives us a reason to drink all that booze in the convenience store. I’m all for it.” added Charles.

“Hey but wait.” Erica interjected, as if she were scared of some unknown consequence. “Isn’t throwing a party against the rules or something?”

“Oh lighten up Erica, this could be a fun way to spend our final hours!” Petre’s lighthearted remarks did little to help comfort the small girl, as she still chewed at her nails.

“Well hey now, I wanna be drunk as heck when I’m, like, dying, so that I can’t even feel it!” Abbie was startled by Maria’s sudden morbid interjection. “It doesn’t take much and I wouldn’t even feel it when I’m dying!”

“W-well, w-we definitely should h-have s-s-some people who are sober, uh, to uh, m-maybe make s-sure no one d-does, um, anything too s-stupid, uh, y’know?” Hans had a point. If people were drinking, Abbie was ure that someone was bound to do something they’d regret.

“Well, I think I could thkip, shit, refrain from drinking.” Ian was cautiously avoiding a lisp as he spoke. “The truth is that alcoholism is really common in my family, and likewise, there’s probably not even enough in that convenience store to get me trashed.”

_Wow… that’s actually really kind of sad. Poor guy._

“Hey, but I have a question.” It was the first Abbie had spoken since the idea of a party had come up. “Where would this even happen? I mean, I’m all for it, but I have no idea where we could possibly have all of us just hang out.”

“That’s EASY.” Logan smiled slyly as he spoke. “We can just have it in the dorms. Hell, we could have it in MY room.”

“Honestly, I think it sounds like fun too!” the lucky student seemed to be genuinely excited to party. “We could have some music too. That would really help ease some tensions that this motive made.”

“And everyone should show up. If they don’t then there’s probably going to be theories that they’re off killing someone.” Charles threw his hand through his hair as he spoke. “The last thing we want is for two people to not show up and one of them to end up dead.”

_The party’s a good way to keep an eye on everyone too… maybe people won’t do anything stupid through the whole night? No… I can’t believe that… Well then again, the worst that could happens is that I’m murdered… but that would be pretty bad. But who could be so bold as to commit a murder now with this party all planned? And people being drunk… I can’t afford to let my guard down. I will be alright._

There was a bit more discussion and it was eventually agreed that the party would take place in Logan’s room later that evening. Abbie found herself watching as groups eventually broke off to gather various things for the night, while others seemed to go off on their own, which struck Abbie as a poor decision. She saw Erica standing in the corner of the cafeteria, partially to comfort herself, and partially to comfort the other girl.

“So now, Erica… tell me how you really feel about his thing.”

Erica looked up, pleased that she had someone to talk to, though Abbie could tell the girl was nervous. “I’ve read and written enough murder mysteries that I know that someone’s not going to be alive this time tomorrow.” She sighed disdainfully. “Someone’s going to try to do something dumb at the party. Parties early on in stories like these never seem to end well…” Erica seemed resigned to the idea that bad things were afoot, which made Abbie uneasy. Still though, Abbie had to maintain her strong composure. _If I break, I might become an easy target._

She then departed from Erica’s side after Erica had to use the bathroom, and with that Abbie was only left with one other person in the area. The Ultimate Soldier had stayed put in the main hall, and while she could probably handle her safety just fine on her own, Abbie felt the need to spend time with Emily.

“Hey Emily! You doing anything?”

“Oh heyy! I didn’t see ya there Abbie!” The girl was unbreakably chipper even despite the news of the motive. “Whatcha doin’?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out for a bit since we've got some time this morning to do whatever.”

And so the two girls went on a walk about the school. It wasn’t a particularly exciting time and they didn’t go anywhere really that interesting, but in Abbie’s opinion, it was a good use of her time. They spoke about very surface level things for a while, but that changed upon entering a random classroom.

“You know, talent sure is a weird thing.”

“What do you mean Em?”

“Oh, I just mean like, sometimes I wonder if I was predestined for my role as a soldier… it’s a little silly, hehe.”

“No really, what do you mean? I’m actually confused…”

“Well you see, uh, well it’s kinda really confusing for me to explain without first giving you a little quiz, y’know?”

_Oh great._

“So with wars and fighting and everything, which war came first, the Korean war, the Gulf War or the Vietnam war?”

Abbie paused. She hadn’t actually studied previous American wars outside of a hig  school history class. Still though, she had an idea of the order of things from the Cold War to recent past. With slight hesitation, she delivered her response: “It was the Korean War, right? It eventually led to the conflicts in Vietnam as well in a way.

Emily smiled cheerily. “Yeah! That’s it! So basically I’ve had family members fight in all three of those fights. My grandpa served in Korea and Vietnam, and my daddy went to Kuwait for serving in the Gulf War. Of course, that’s just counting all the close family members. My great grandma was a World War 2 Nurse for the allies, and my GREAT GREAT grandpa served in the great war! It just sorta runs in my blood, yaknow?”

“So you’re saying that you feel like the skill is genetic?”

“Well, you tell me, you’re the Ultimate Botanist. Shouldn’t you know something about that?”

“Well…” Abbie sighed with exasperation, “Not really.”

“Well either way, I just feel like I’ve gotta carry on the tradition of my family. It’s been… like, I dunno five generations now? I can’t let my family down.”

“But, Emily, would you rather carry on your family tradition… or live in a world without war?” the soldier froze at Abbie’s question, unsure of herself. Abbie, seeing her faux pas, spoke up again to ease tensions “I-It’s just a hypothetical question. Food for thought.”

“Right… yeah… food for thought!”

_That was kind of scary, the way she just froze up and everything. I mean, I guess I think I can say I know this girl a little bit better now, after having spent time with her and everything._

The two girls returned back to the main hall after their walk to find that the are was still mostly deserted. The countdown clock that had once only displayed the time, now showed the current time as well as a large pixelated hourglass, symbolizing how much time there was left. Abbie shuddered at the reminder that someone was to die, but she kept strong her complexion and visage.

Still, she had some time before the party was to take place, so she made her way back to her room to rest for a while. Talking to all those people and the stress of having to deal with the motive had gotten to her a bit and she felt that it would be best to rest herself. It was the combination of knowing that she’d have a party to go to, as well as the fact that she was afraid someone was going to get whacked that bothered her and tired her out.

She returned to her bedroom and locked the door before undressing into something that wasn’t her pajamas. Sitting in just her underwear, she pondered her circumstances, and as she did, her eyes lingered near the closet door. _I’m going to need that trowel tonight I think. For safety…_  She opened her closet doors and shuffled around until she found the sharp-edged digging tool. _Shit… I thought it was going to suit me better for self-defence… I’m not going to be able to do much with this aside from maybe knock someone out over the head… damn._ Abbie debated whether it was worth risking leaving her room to return to the talent room in order to grab something bigger, but she decided against it. How was she going to explain why she was sneakily wandering about the halls alone?

“No, no. I’m not going to kill someone. I don’t need anything other than what I’ve got.” Upon telling herself vocally that she was going to be ok, Abbie felt somewhat relieved. It was a little strange, she felt, to talk to herself when no one else was around, but then again, she wasn’t nearly as worried as before. “I’ll just bring this trowel with me to the party in case of protection. No one will even know.”

She then took a nice long nap, and didn’t wake for a while.

Abbie’s respite ended a few hours later. She redressed and made her way back up the spiral stairs to see Nate, Charles, Joseph, Lexi and Ellie all carrying what appeared to be case of beer. She listened carefully as she entered the convenience store to buy something non-Alcoholic. She settled upon a small bottle of lemonade, and proceeded to make her way towards the register.

“I can’t believe you’ve gotta swipe for literally every single thing in this store.” Abbie overheard Nate talking with Joseph as he scanned a case of Cola and a bottle of rum.

“Do you even know who is the one that is paying for all these things when we swipe the scanner?”

“Beats me man. Not that I’m complaining.” Nate laughed a frustrated laugh as he and Joseph exited the store.

Abbie could still hear them having a loud conversation, though she couldn't really make out any of the other words they were saying. She shrugged and scanned the lemonade. Abbie found it strange that there was a lack of receipt or proof of purchase, though she figured that there had to be some sort of recording of the items people had purchased.

As she stepped out into the cafeteria once again, Abbie could see the golden gleams of the sun that shone as the sun departed the sky. It was bittersweet and Abbie lingered in her spot a little longer than she had expected. _This might be my last sunset. All those days… on the fields… in the backyard…_ “Shit…” She was getting choked up. The golden hues that littered the sky resonated with her far more than she expected, and she felt the lump in her throat begin to grow. The slippery sad feeling of tears seemed to well up in Abbie, though she quickly wiped them away. She didn’t want to accept this. This wasn’t her life. This wasn’t what she signed up for. She hadn’t planned on any of this happening. Her hair was being dumb, she was stuck with a bunch of weird people who might kill her, and worst of all, there was nothing she could do about it unless she went against literally everything she stood for. The golden sky slowly became a red hue, but Abbie simply stood there.

“Hey, Abbie. Are you alright?” It was Joseph. He had tapped her on the shoulder, and when she pivoted, he saw her red and teary eyes. “Hey, now. No one is going to die… that is what you are crying about, I assume?

With a sniffle, Abbie spoke again. “Y-yeah…” she was having trouble speaking because of her heavy deep breaths. “I just… I just don’t know how the hell I got into this mess... “

“Well Abbie, I will look out for you tonight. I know there’s going to be high tensions and the world might seem like it is ending, but you and I are not going to die tonight. I promise.” His smile was a warm one, and while Abbie still felt that she wasn’t able to trust people, his words seemed genuine.

_No. This isn’t the end._

Abbie took one of her sleeves and unrolled it to wipe away any lingering tears. No, this wasn’t the end of her, or anyone else here. They were going to call the bear’s bluff, she was prepared to for the worst. She was sad and missed home, but Joseph’s comforting words and the hope that she would one day be able to return home lit a fire in her.

“And besides,” Joseph continued, “who would really want to kill such a cool and laid back guy like me?” Abbie and Joseph both laughed an uncertain laugh, and then the two departed for their rooms once again in preparation for the party.

Upon returning to her room, Abbie rummaged through her closet to find something to wear, only to then remember that she only had two outfits. She then gathered the trowel and shoved it into her sports bra once again, leaving the handle just barely accessible. She also found the nearest writing utensil, a red Monobear pen, and a slip of paper and wrote the following:

“ I, Abbie Wallace, hereby want you all to know that you all are wonderful people. PLease don’t kill me xoxo”

_That oughta do it._

She grabbed her keys, gathered her trash and brought it to the trash room, locked her room door and made her way to the opposite wing with her lemonade bottle. It was a little strange to Abbie at first since she didn’t actually hear any music playing from Logan’s room until she got within a few feet of the room, and even then it wasn’t particularly loud.

The room was aglow with various lights and colors. Abbie was quite surprised and confused as to how Logan managed to rig the room how he did. In the corner, sitting on the floor were the group Abbie had seen earlier in Nate Joseph and Ellie, while Charles and Lexi sat on a couch. She also saw Logan at the back of the room and greeted him.

“YO! ABBIE!” his voice was nearly as loud as the blaring music. “GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT!”

“WHAT?” Abbie was straining to speak audibly. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

“ **GLAD. YOU. COULD. MAKE. IT!”** Logan shouted, and turned down the music a little, which pleased Abbie. However, she did find it annoying e he decided to turn the music down after screaming right into her ears.

With her ears still ringing, she sat down on a second couch just nearby Charles and Lexi. As she sat down, she watched as Peter, Erica and Mari all showed up one after another, each carrying cups and bottles. They were shortly followed by Kayla, Ian and Hans as well. It seemed to Abbie that everyone was sort of fine with doing their own thing, and that the music was a little too loud, but she didn’t want to complain either. As she mused to herself, Peter sat down next to her on the couch and looked around.

“It’s alright if I sit here, yeah?”

“I don’t mind.” Abbie was nonchalant about this fact if only because she really didn’t care at all. _Am I going numb? These bright blues and purples… are they numbing me?_

Abbie train of thought was cut off by Hans of all people making a small announcement. “Uh, e-excuse me everyone… I’m n-not gonna be able to s-stay long… I promise, uh that I’m, um, not going to kill anyone… but drinking and p-partying isn’t my s-scene… and my work makes m-me, uh, well, wake up way earlier th-than all of, uh, you… so sorry in a-advance.”

“Hey man, NO WORRIES!” Logan was cheerful in his disposition to Hans’ lack of excitement for the party. It was a strange departure from how Logan had treated Hans earlier in the day, Abbie noticed. _Maybe Logan feels bad for what he did to Hans?_

Once again, Abbie’s thought process was interrupted by a knock at the door. Turns out, Kristen was standing there with two bottles in hand, which obviously made it difficult for her to open the door. “Won’t you boys let me in? I brought tequila?” With quick and admirable deftness, Logan ushered Kristen in and Bailey slithered in behind her, with a few shot glasses.

Abbie sat and counted everyone who had arrived at the party so far. When she arrived there had been six other people, and then two groups of three came in, and then two more people had shown up. Fifteen people were at the party.

“Hey, has anyone seen Emily?” asked Abbie with a twinge of concern.

“You think maybe we should go look for her?” asked Nate glancing over towards Ian and Charles.

“Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll go search for her.” Kayla was adamant in her statements. She rose, and made her way to the door. “She’s probably just enjoying a nap or something. I shall find her, and undoubtedly bring her here!” And with her declaration, Kayla exited the room.

“Well, the rest of us are here, let’s get this shit started!” Lexi’s enthusiasm wasn’t lost of plenty of people as the party, and drinking soon began. Abbie meandered to the small fridge and opened up a can of Mono-Lite, and sipped it slowly. It was disgusting and frothy with a very cardboard-esque aftertaste. She decide then and there that this would be the only drink she’d have tonight if the quality of their drinks was going to be this low.

She watched various people do various shots of various drinks. Peter shuddered and coughed after a few shots of vodka, while Ellie seemed to do them whilst plugging her nose. Lexi, Maria and Bailey on the other hand took their shots with poise and then proceeded to begin dancing. Lexi, the Ultimate Dancer seemed to be able to pull of very complicated moves despite the fact that she, a petite girl, had had three shots right out of the gate.

Meanwhile, Kristen and Ian had found large bottom glasses and were slowly sipping a dark wine. Abbie, lacking in knowledge of wine, didn't seem to care about what they were drinking much, other than the fact that she noticed Kristen making googly eyes at Charles. She kept sipping and turned to the other guys who also had some beers in hand. Charles had decided to shotgun his beer, while Nate and Joseph chugged theirs. Logan was also sitting there, but as host, it seemed clear to Abbie that he probably wasn’t going to drink much. Or at least she assumed that much, and that it would be difficult to tell drunk Logan from sober Logan.

Abbie finished her beer and contrary to her previous though, she crushed her can and proceeded to grab another. It wasn’t as disgusting after the first one, and Abbie had to wonder if she had just opened an expired beer or if she was starting to feel the effects.

Once again, Abbie saw a few people who had refrained from drinking, Hans and Erica, though in her drinking state, she had missed the fact that Kayla and Emily had also returned to the party and were sitting with the group. _Shit, how concentrated is this stuff? I didn’t even see those two come in..._ She looked down on the can to find that the can said “25 Proof”

“ **Fuck!** ”

“What’s wrong Abbie?” asked Nate, startled at the outburst.

“Fuck me man… this fuckin’ stuff… it’s like, uh fuckin’ twenty-five proof. That’s really fuckin’ up there for beers.”

“Oh shit, yeah.” Nate said with an awkward grin. “I guess you’re right.”

“Drunker quicker” chimed in Charles. “I don’tmind one bit.”

_Ok, no more beer, you’re already a little more than buzzed. Hell yeah I am. I mean, Yeah, I am a little more than buzzed. Fuck. Ok, get yourself together girl!_

“Yeah… I’m gonna take a break. I drank this faster… faster than I should’ve…” Abbie was sighing out of inebriation as she spoke. Cleary her days as a lightweight were upon her. She was wondering if everyone was about at her level of intoxication, though she didn’t have to guess for long.

“Hey… what a geeky little freaky bear little ass… I don’t wanna perky bear.” Maria was smashed and whispering loudly.

“Maria, baby” ellie was also drunk. “Can you, please please please tell me what you had and how many?”

“Only two…”

“Two what?

“Just two…” She droopily held up two fingers and then proceeded to grab her breasts. “Only two…”

“Hey, SO, I wanna propose a toast to everyone.” Logan was standing on one of the couches in between a cowering Ellie and Maria. “Here’s to living like it’s our last day and FUCK MONOBEAR FOR BEING SUCH A LITTLE BITCH!”

“Here here!” shouted Charles, who proceeded to down his entire drink. No coughing, no sputtering, just a clean swallow, following which, he proceeded to grab another can he had stashed away in his jacket and down that one as well. “I’m juss sayin’.” his words were slurring hard, “if anyone’s tryin’ to kill youknow someone else orwhatever, they’re gonna be fuckin’ dead man.” Charles’ words were heard by all despite the music blastic some poppy-bassy tune.

“Yeah, like fuck man…” Lexi was making her way over to the couch that Charles was sitting on, or at least that’s how it appeared to Abbie. “It’s like… pfft, if I… If I took this knife,” she said whimsically, magically procuring a knife from inside her plaid skirt while speaking, “and sunk it it into your throat,” moving the knife quickly towards his carotid artery “and if nooooooooooo one sawwwwwwwwww meeeee, then fucking Imma be allouttathisbitch, ya feel?”

The room was a taut mess of tensions. From what Abbie could tell, Lexi had a knife at Charles’ throat, and no one was doing anything about it.

“Um, what the FUCK Lexi?” Charles was visibly panicked in his inebriated state.

No one said a word.

“What, is no one going totellhertostop? I mean, Jesus.”

“Lexiii, put the knife awayyyyyyy” whined Ellie, obviously concerned for Charles’ well-being.

“No, no, say let her do it if she’s bold enough *hic*” Bailey was clearly much less concerned. “It’s *hic*, it’s not like she’ll get away with it.”

“Well Bailey, that might not be the most intelligent thing to bring up. You might piss off Charles.” said the voice of reason, Ian, sober.

“You FUCKIN’ bet I’m pissed Ian. I don’teven know this bitch that well and I’m abouttopunch her.”

“Nooooooooooo, Charlessssss, don’t do thaaaaaaaat.” whined Ellie, even more shrilly than before.

“I guess… I guess you’re right…” Lexi withdrew the knife, and Abbie could tell that she had an almost disappointed look on her face. “But if you punch me… youbetyourassthisknifeisgoinginyourdick.” And with the waterfall of slurred words, Lexi put the knife back in her skirt. “And anyof you… you fucks try to fuck with me… don’t… you’ll definitely regret it… heh.”

“Hey Ian, can you fuckingtakeherback to her room or something? She just threatened me with a knife!” Charles was doing nothing to deescalate the situation. His red visage was all Abbie needed to see that the guy was particularly filled with fury and venom.

“Uh Charles, I don’t think that’s a very go-”

“Look Ian, Idon’tgiveashit, take her back to her room.” He looked like an angry drunk uncle, and his request seemed to have a level of ominous fury in it.

Ian turned to Lexi, who was staring back at Charles with a strange, enticed appearance. _Is she, like, fucking into him or something? Fuck, I’m drunk. Oh nuts._ As she bit her lip in angrily suggestive manner, Ian hoisted her by her waist, apologizing profusely. As he walked away from the party, Abbie watched as Kayla and Emily followed him.

As the four departed, Joseph called out to Ian, perhaps in vain. “HEY IAN, CAN YOU GET MORE BEER FROM THE STORE PLEASE?” _Note to self… fucking Joseph gets fucking loud as fuck when he’s drunk._

“HEY, Joseph, I gotcha.” Logan piped up at the request to get more booze, though he was clearly stumbling as he rose. Abbie noted that it really was tough to tell if the guy had been drinking or not. “Next round in a glass coming up.” He looked around to the rest of the room, and then to Abbie. “Hey ABBIE, you want another?”

She hesitated, but Abbie was in no right mind, so she gave the obvious response. “Fuck yeah, man. Bring it on.” Logan smiled heartily at this response and promptly made his way to exit the room.

“Hey Logan, wait up!” It was Peter who was speaking now. “Lemme come with you! Buddy system equals good system!” _Factor out system so that buddy = good. Huh. Guess that fucker likes friends. Good for him._ Abbie watched as Logan put on an annoyed flat expression, and with an exasperated sigh, Logan motioned for Peter to go with him. _Hey that was fucking weird._

Now that nearly half the cast had left the room, Abbie once again surveyed everything. Erica was now sitting all by her lonesome, though it appeared as if she was thoroughly entertained by the chaos that had ensued. Meanwhile Kristen and _wait… wasn’t Hans with Erica? Where… where did he fucking go? Ah whatever._ Kristen and Maria had their arms around each other, both holding yet another glass of wine. Clearly the scuffle that had happened earlier hadn’t dissuaded them from drinking more wine. Bailey seemed to be watching the two of them from Logan’s bed, though Abbie wasn’t sure when or how Bailey had gotten into the lofted bunk.  Ellie was now on the couch, snuggled up to Charles, while Nate and Joseph was having a conversation about… something, Abbie didn’t really care.

Abbie closed her eyes for just a moment, but when she opened them she realized a random, and out of place fact. She had to pee really badly. She wasn’t sure what had led to this cause of events, but she quickly rose, and without saying so much as a word to anyone else, aside from the words “Gotta fucking pee!” she exited the room. ASa she raced down the hall, she feared two things. Firstly, and foremostly, she feared that she’d pee herself, but secondly, she also feared that she’d fall victim to some kind of sick attack.

Of course, Abbie was also pretty drunk, so while running, she was taking time to watch the ground, and not where she was actually running, and she smacked right into Peter who had just climbed down the spiral stairs. “No time to explain, I have to fucking pee.”

“Buddy system?”

“I HAVE TO FUCKING PEE!”

“I’ll stand outside! Logan’s coming down anyways, so he’ll understand. LOGAN, I’M GOING TO PEE WITH ABBIE.”

“Dude, come the fuck on.”

“You know you say ‘fuck’ a lot when you’re drunk right?”

“Fuck… you’re right.” Abbie was fumbling over her words, as the word had clearly become a drunken crutch for her. “Listen… just fucking stay the fuck out of the fucking bathroom while I pee ok?”

Peter laughed and shook his head, “Oh Abbie, you don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Thanks though.”

Abbie wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but then again, she was drunk. _Drunk. She was drunk. Drunk drunk Drunk. Inebriated. Turnt. Shmacked. Druuuuuuujnk drnk, oh fuck she was drunk. Why was she focused so much on the fact that she was drunk? Maybe it’s because her brain just went on autopilot from the moment she entered the bathroom. Wait fuck. Have I been narrating my whole fucking bathroom adventure? Fucking-a man that’s embarrassing as fuck. Ugh. Ok just drop whatever you’ve gotta and get back out there girl, Peter’s not fucking getting anymore more alive, you know? Fuck._

After the wonderful trip to the porcelain throne, Abbie made her way past the pink and white stalls and to the door, though, she felt some type of weight upon pulling the handle. Thinking this was an act of endangerment, Abbie began to panic. She rapped on the door a few times, in hopes that the person who might be blocking the door might move. And then it hit her. If someone were leaning on the other side, the door would open since she was already pulling on it. Slapping herself, she pushed the door and it fell open right into Peter, who was busy minding his own business spinning an earbud.

“You fucking been out here long?”

Once again, the gray boy laughed. “Only as long as you’ve been in there.”

Abbie, annoyed with his laughter then posed another question. “Anything fucking weird happen while I was gone?”

“No, not really, the only interesting that might’ve happened was that Logan went back with the beers.”

“And how the fuck are you feeling?”

“I’m sobering up.” He grinned at his own mentioning of being sober once again. How strange it was that this boy could sober up after being so strange not two minutes ago. Regardless, Abbie wasn’t going to try and force anything upon him, so she just smiled, forcing herself to be as sober as she could. It failed and Peter chuckled to himself.

The two of them walked back to the party where things had more or less died down. Given that half of the group had left previously, certain groups were beginning to show signs of weariness and fatigue. Abbie scanned the room for her glass of beer that Logan was to get her, but it appeared as if all of the glasses had been finished by the guys on the couch, with Charles proceeding to down the very last few drops of his glass. Abbie was annoyed at the boys, Nate, Logan, Joseph, and Charles to be specific, though she also figured that it was probably for the better that she didn’t get to have any more of the toxic stuff. Still though she had to wonder how much those four had had as they were all kind of slumped over, as if they were all dead. _No, sleeping. Those fuckers are sleeping, not dead._

Abbie rushed over to the couch and immediately shook the four boys individually, and each one seemed to give a startled mumble or groan. “You fuckers need to get to fucking bed!” she was more concerned for their safety than anything, even the idea that she would be sending these boys to their final sleep. Sure, the thought crossed her mind, but in the event that somehow someone died, she’d make sure these boys weren’t going to be passed out in the hallways. With Peter and Erica, as well as Kristen who had sobered up, the remaining intoxicated people in Logan’s room were moved to their respective rooms. Erica walked Ellie and Maria gently to their rooms, while Kristen slung Charles’ plastered body over her shoulder. Peter tended to Nate and Bailey, who were more sober than they appeared, Abbie helped Logan carry Joseph back to his room.

While carrying the mountaineer, Abbie tried to figure out if there were any people unaccounted for. She couldn’t figure anything was out of the ordinary, and upon reaching Joseph’s room, Joseph procured his key. Abbie could tell that the mountaineer was probably the worst off of the guys after Charles. She and Logan brought Joseph into his room and sat him on his bed, and then waited. It was a painful period of time watching the blacked out mountaineer try to figure his surroundings, though Abbie was feeling a different, duller, kind of pain as well around her breast.

Reaching towards the source of her pain, she realized she was getting a warm pink patch on her shirt.

It was blood. She was bleeding.

Fear and sobriety immediately washed over Abbie. _How did this start? What the hell? Why am I bleeding? Am I dying? Am I gonna die? Holy shit? Where did this come from? Oh my god?!_ She turned to the two boys on the bed and screamed “I’M BLEEDING I GOTTA GO!” and she dashed out of the room. As she sprinted towards her bedroom, she ran into Kristen and without time to spare, she shouted “KRISTEN I’M BLEEDING GO CHECK ON LOGAN PLEASE!” Abbie didn’t wait for Kristen’s response either, though looking back, Kristen seemed to be flustered and asking something. But Abbie couldn’t hear her, the dramatic situation was far too stressful for her to focus on anyone else but herself.

She slammed and locked her bedroom door and stripped down until she could see the wound. As she removed her sports bra, she traced the long, albeit shallow, slit from her shoulder to the top of her breast. “HOW THE FUCK DID I GET THIS?! MONBEAR?!”

With a puff of smoke, the bear showed up, a blush on his face. “What seems to be the issue, Madame Bleedingboobs? Oh wait, lemme guess. That’s what your issues is? You’re bleeding?”

“Yeah you stupid bear! What the hell am I supposed to do? There’s no doctor shit here!”

“Upupupu… who’s to say I haven’t earned a doctorate degree?”

“That’s not what matters!”

“What I’m saying is, you impatient twat, is that I can patch you up if I really wanted to…”

“Well can you please make a freaking decision? I’m dying over here!”

“Hmmmmmm… no. I don’t think so.” The bear was sporting a vacant expression as he spoke. As if he was contemplating the rules of something. “It’ll heal fine, though I’m not going to do anything about it only because it was inflicted by another student. And if I was healing every wound that was given to any student, no one would die? What a dumb solution, right?”

“And how the hell am I supposed to treat this wound?”

“Shoot girl, I dunno,” replied the bear, scratching his head, “But I’m sure you can figure it out, you’re a smart girl.” And with another blast of white smoke, Monobear vanished into the night space.

Without hesitating, Abbie grabbed one of the random shirts she had in her closet and fashioned a cloth bandage that wrapped around her pectoral muscles, which absorbed a large quantity of the flowing pink hemoglobin.The bleeding was stanched, if only momentarily, which allowed Abbie a little peace of mind as she put on her pajama shirt.

_This wound was given to me by another student? What? How the hell could that have happened?_

A sudden dizziness befell Abbie as she tried thinking, and a crippling stumble caused Abbie to fall over into her bed, without a second standing thought. She wasn’t going to be thinking much, though she was able to hear the sound of thunder outside her room. Rain was probably the only thing that gave her comfort right now. Her fall, wound, and knowledge that she would likely die in seven hours or so was enough to enough to have her eyes mimic the falling sounds of a storm in the distance.

 

And so Abbie cried. She cried for her family, her sisters and cousins. Her friends from home and the friends that she had made here the past three days. She cried because she wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye to anyone either as her haste to fix herself had left her knowledge of everyone else’s situations lacking in detail. She cried knowing that she was going to be killed for some unknown reason. She cried because she didn’t at all know what she could do other than put her own life in even more danger. She cried because she knew that she wasn’t able to even commit a murder in her current state even if she wanted to. She cried because it was hopeless. She cried because she knew she was going to die alone in this room without anyone knowing what happened to her. And that made her cry even more.

 

With thunder off in the distance, the lights lowered in Abbie’s room, and she closed her eyes, for the final time that night. She wasn’t religious, but in that moment Abbie concentrated to send one final message.

_Oh please, to whoever can hear me… I don’t know how the hell this happened to me, but please. Someone… please just save me…_

_Help me please…_

And with those final pleas, she drifted off into the abyss of slumber.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

**MONOBEAR THEATER**

There comes a point in a person’s life where they learn the definition or a limit. Sometimes they learn it in a math class and sometimes they learn it when they’re being pulled over by the fuzz. As a bear, I know know limits when it comes to finding the greatest sweetest golden despairy honey. But even stupid kids need to learn their limits and the social dangers of going toooooo over the top!

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

***ding dong bing bong***

 

“Wakey wakey everyone! It’s 7 AM and no one likes a truant student! And Plus, why spend money to go to college if you’re just gonna sleep through it? My point is, GET UP!”

Abbie rose and immediately grabbed her arm. She hadn’t dreamt at all that night, and had to make sure she wasn’t actually dreaming. She had to make sure she was actually still alive. She saw that her wound had stopped bleeding, but the shirt was soaked in dull pink blood, which made it appear as if she had wiped up some kind of murder scene. Her entire torso was very sore though, and she pressed around the cut to check for bruising. The dull soreness upon touching the site of the injury suggested to her that she wouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting for a long while.

She threw off the shirt onto the floor, and replaced it with a new one, as well as the other clothes that she had in her closet. She found herself taking more time than the previous two days, perhaps to admire the fact that the room still existed. She still existed. _But what if I was actually an hour off?_ The idea crossed Abbie’s mind, but she quickly discarded it. Putting on a pair of socks, she looked out the tiny cage-like window and sighed. It was another day. The sun had risen. Things weren’t back to normal, and she had a headache from the dehydration of drinking from the night prior, but she was still Abbie, if maybe for another hour. She took a plastic bag from her trash bin,half-assedly wrapped the bloody shirt-bandage, in it, and then made her way out of her room and towards the garbage chute, where she groggily disposed of the messy bandage.

The hangover that hung over Abbie was enough to make her not want to go up the loopy spiral staircase, as she feared she’d become nauseous from the circular motion. _Man, I really wish I had some dumpy hoodie right now so I could look as beautiful as I feel._ But life was life and there was no point in trying to just wallow in her self pity when it was possible there was only an hour of life left. Still, the apathy Abbie felt in that moment was enough to prevent her from immediately rushing up the spiral stairs to see if anyone else had gathered in the cafeteria.

And yet, the world moves on and continues whether or not one has a hangover or not. Abbie gathered the strength and focus to slowly, but surely go up the windy, red-carpeted stairs to the main hall. There was one sight Abbie hoped not to see upon reaching the top, but sure enough it was still there. The countdown clock and the time left. She stared at it for a bit, hoping the hourglass would eventually move one of the remaining two pixels into the bottom mountain.  Out of frustration, Abbie smacked the side of the monitor, hoping that the display would somehow react to her action, but this was to no avail.

As the natural progression, she decided that her last meal in life would be simple. She was alone in the cafeteria in that moment, and decided that she would find just one strawberry, and eat it. She pivoted a few times, looking towards the doors to see if anyone would join her for her final breakfast when something most peculiar caught her eye.

The idea of chronostasis is an interesting one. When one looks at an analog clock at just the right moment, time seems to freeze as one awaits the next second to arrive. ONe the second hand passes, time seems to speed up yet again. ONe can repeat this sensation if one has good timing.

Abbie looked at the countdown clock, but it was still.

 

2:01:38

 

The thought occurred to her that maybe she was experiencing chronostasis and that the second would switch and change,

 

2:01:38

 

But upon looking away and then returning to the clock, and new feeling erupted inside her.

 

2:01:38

 

_Why isn’t the time changing?_

“No…”

The feeling was a morbid relief. She would live to see another sunset, but someone else had not lived to see the sunrise.

Abbie rushed towards the spiral stairs, hangover completely gone, nearly tripping. As she did, something worse caught her attention.

 

“EAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

 

A loud scream could be heard from the basement.

 

_THIS IS NOT GOOD!_

 

Abbie flew down the stairs, nearly crashing into Nate, who had also heard the scream.

“Please tell me I’m not so hungover that I’m hearing things” said NAte in a distressed whisper.

“No Nate, I’m hearing it too, it sounds like another girl.”

“Fucking hell” said a groggy girl’s voice from behind Abbie. Lexi was scratching her eyes, as she clearly had gotten little sleep. “Who’s screaming this early? I’m hungover, shit…”

“Lexi, we need to get to the basement, now.” commanded Nate. Lexi quickly popped to attention and noddeed. Without a word more, the three of them raced down to the screeching, which was still going on. The trio pinpointed the location, it was coming from the garbage disposal room.

The door swung open and Nate, Lexi and Abbie discovered one distressed Ellie Servendy, and one gruesome scene sitting atop the trash heap.

 

***ding dong dong ding***

 

“A body has been discovered! Now then! After six hours, the class trial will begin! I hope you all have brushed up on your debate skills!”

The screams were inside Abbie’s head, but also all around her. The shouts of fear and unrest. The drama of life and death had all unfolded in the scene before her. There was nothing else she could do but scream. She screamed for disgusted at herself for being overjoyed that she was still alive. She screamed for the pain that she felt knowing that the distrust in the group was going to grow tenfold. But she screamed the most because there, lying in a crumpled mess, surrounded by garbage, was the body of the person who said he would keep her safe the night before.

 

 

It was the body of the Ultimate Mountaineer, Joseph Elgon. Dead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun facts about this chapter:  
> \- V3 memes have slowly slowly slowly started seeping their way through the cracks in my writing. Oh no.  
> \- I was moderately drunk when I wrote the drunk part, and then edited it later to at least have it be coherent. Method writing FTW.  
> \- There was going to be another Free Time event, but I decided against it only because the part was far too long, and the part added essentially nothing to characterization other than repeating what we already knew.
> 
> So what a rush that was. I mean, it's not every day that you get write write about such heavy themes and everything. I mean, I'm certainly looking forward to any possible theories on what could've possibly went down.
> 
> As always please leave a comment if you feel so inclined (Predictions, likes/dislikes, ways I can improve etc.), and if you want me to read your work, I'll happily look it over.


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